Focus on Stunting Reduction in Ten Provinces
Detiktoday.com – President Joko Widodo asked his staff to focus on ten provinces in an effort to reduce the prevalence of stunting, which is one of the programs in the field of human resources. These efforts must continue in the midst of the ongoing Covid-19 control efforts.
“Even though we are currently struggling to control Covid, the matter of reducing stunting, which has become our program, must be accelerated,” said the President while chairing a limited meeting on accelerating stunting reduction at the Merdeka Palace, Jakarta, on Wednesday, August 5, 2020.
The ten provinces that are of primary concern are the provinces with the highest stunting prevalence rates in Indonesia, namely East Nusa Tenggara, West Sulawesi, West Nusa Tenggara, Gorontalo, Aceh, Central Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, West Kalimantan, Southeast Sulawesi, and Central Sulawesi.
“I also want to ask the governors, regents, mayors and village heads, especially for the ten provinces, to really be able to concentrate and focus on reducing stunting,” said the President.
Based on the data obtained by the President, there has been an improvement in the national stunting prevalence rate from initially in the range of 37 percent in 2013 to 27.6 percent in 2019. The President has set a target so that by 2024, this prevalence rate can decrease to 14 percent.
“This is a pretty decent decrease, but I don’t think this is enough. We have to reduce it even faster,” said the President.
To that end, the Head of State instructed that health services for pregnant women and toddlers at Puskesmas and Posyandu can continue by implementing strict health protocols. The service also includes supplementary feeding for pregnant women, vitamin supplements for breastfeeding mothers, and complementary feeding for breastfeeding.
“Aspects of promotion, education, and socialization for pregnant women as well as for families must be intensified so as to increase understanding for stunting prevention. Once again, I ask that this also involves the PKK, religious leaders, community leaders, RT and RW, as well as volunteers and us. I hope this will become a joint movement in the community, “said the President.
In addition, efforts to reduce the prevalence of stunting must be connected and go hand in hand with government social protection programs such as the Family Hope Program to the development of basic infrastructure that can reach needy families.
