Samarinda, E Kalimantan- The East Kalimantan government is targeting to reduce the province’s stunting rate by 4.95 percentage points per year to bring it down to 14 percent by the end of 2024.

“East Kalimantan’s stunting reduction target is set to be at 18.9 percent (stunting prevalence) in late 2023, and to reach 14 percent in late 2024,” head of the East Kalimantan Health Office Jaya Mualimin informed here on Friday.

He said that the local government needs to work hard and collaborate with all parties to reduce stunting prevalence in East Kalimantan, which increased from 22.8 percent in 2021 to 23.9 percent at the end of 2022.

According to the 2022 Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey (SSGI), Kutai Kartanegara district recorded the highest stunting prevalence in East Kalimantan of 27.1 percent, he added.

The Governor Regulation Number 56 of 2019 on the 2019–2023 Regional Action Plan for Food and Nutrition of East Kalimantan has been issued to support efforts toward stunting prevalence reduction, he added.

Mualimin stressed the importance of collaboration in efforts to accelerate stunting reduction in East Kalimantan.

“Collaborative work of various parties is the key to ensuring convergence between programs down to the village level to reduce stunting,” he said.

Earlier, East Kalimantan Governor Isran Noor had said that the provincial government will need support from all parties to reduce stunting prevalence to 14 percent by 2024.

“All (parties) must be involved. This is related to the future because these children are the nation’s next generation,” he remarked.

In 2022, Indonesia’s stunting prevalence shrank by 2.8 percentage points to 21.6 percent from 24.4 percent in 2021, based on the SSGI.

The central government is aiming to reduce national stunting prevalence to 17.8 percent in 2023 and 14 percent by 2024.

Source: Antara News