There is an urgent need to improve nutrition in children during their first thousand days (HPK) to reduce the prevalence of stunting, head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), Hasto Wardoyo, has emphasized.
“The urgency to improve nutrition in the people should be focused on one thousand HPK and also teenagers,” he said in a statement issued on Friday.
Providing good nutrition for children is a very serious matter that needs to be considered. This is because there are still many infants and children in Indonesia who suffer from iron deficiency or iron-deficiency anemia, he explained.
Iron-deficiency anemia can impair children’s development and reduce their physical capability, creativity, and body immunity, which can increase the risk of infections, he said.
In teenagers, this condition can reduce productivity and academic performance, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, iron-deficiency in pregnant mothers can affect mothers’ and children’s safety, he said.
To resolve these nutrition issues, cross-sectoral cooperation is required for building new innovations that could help the government achieve the goal of realizing a healthier and stronger generation, he added.
An example of this cooperation is the collaboration between BKKBN with State Logistics Agency (Bulog) in distributing fortified vitamin rice (FortiVit) in West Bandung district on Thursday.
“Reducing stunting should be done through coverage expansion to entire districts and cities as well as cross-institutional integration,” he said.
Meanwhile, West Bandung’s acting district head, Hengky Kurniawan, lauded BKKBN and Bulog’s innovation as well as support for reducing the prevalence of stunting in his region.
He also informed that the West Bandung District Family Planning Handling Office is striving to expedite stunting reduction, as instructed by Wardoyo.
“For us, this is something extraordinary. We realize that the government cannot act alone. This requires pentahelix collaboration,” he remarked.
Source: Antara News