This will be executed in regions with food and nutrition insecurity and high rate of stuntingJakarta (ANTARA) - The National Food Agency (NFA) optimizes stunting reduction in vulnerable regions through integration of the Diverse, Nutritiously Balanced, and Safe (B2SA) meal program with the Health Kitchen Handle Stunting (Dashat) owned by another agency.
"This will be executed in regions with food and nutrition insecurity and high rate of stunting," NFA Head Arief Prasetyo Adi stated here, Thursday.
The program will be executed on October 12-14 in North Sumatra before continuing to West Kalimantan on October 18-20, he remarked.
"We hold the road show to implement this program across Indonesia," he affirmed.
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The B2SA program will bolster education provided by Dashat, owned by the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), by encouraging the public to eat balanced meals.
The program encourages people to consume fruits, vegetables, meat, and fish in accordance with the availability of food in each region.
This strengthening is conducted to counteract Indonesians' habit, most of whom consume carbohydrates from rice despite the fact that carbohydrate can also be obtained from the intake of tubers.
To prevent stunting in children, consumption of animal and vegetable protein should also be increased as compared to oil and fats.
According to Adi, integration of the two programs is a follow-up from the MoU that his agency inked with BKKBN.
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Moreover, integration is also conducted in an effort to reduce stunting prevalence nationally to 14 percent by 2024.
In connection with the data, the food insecure region data owned by the NFA will be compared with BKKBN's data that covers regions with high stunting prevalence.
In the data, Maluku, North Maluku, Papua, and West Papua are shown to have a high food security index that managed to gain the sympathy of President Joko Widodo.
Adi emphasized that expediting stunting reduction necessitates full collaboration from all parties. Stunting must be prevented since before conception, so he expects that stunting education can continue to be implemented early.
"Once again, I say that prevention is better than medication. The budget should not be used to medicate but to prevent," he remarked.
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Translator: Hreeloita D S, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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