Data from the Indonesian Nutrition Status Study (SSGI) in 2021 put the prevalence of childhood stunting in Indonesia at 24.4 percent. The government is aiming to reduce it to 14 percent by 2024, as per Presidential Decree Number 72 of 2021 concerning accelerating the reduction of stunting.
"We still have to reduce 10.4 percent in the next two years. This is not an easy job,” the deputy for human development policy support and equitable development at the Vice Presidential Secretariat, Suprayoga Hadi, said at the opening of the National Technical Coordination Meeting for the Acceleration of Stunting Reduction in Jakarta on Monday.
Meeting the target in the next two years will not be easy since the stunting rate has only dropped around 6.4 percent from 2018 to 2021, he added.
Therefore, commitment between central and regional governments must continue to be increased to realize the target, he said.
"We must seriously accelerate stunting reduction because we know that stunting or nutritional problems will have an impact on the future of our human resources, which will then determine the future destiny of this nation," Hadi emphasized.
He said that the 2021 SSGI data also showed that around 69 percent of stunted cases were concentrated in 12 provinces, including 7 provinces with the highest prevalence rate and 5 provinces with the highest number of children under five.
Last August, Vice President Ma'ruf Amin had invited the governors of the 12 provinces to jointly focus on expediting stunting reduction by 2024 in a meeting that was also attended by several related ministries/agencies.
He explained that the governors of the 12 provinces prioritized for stunting reduction were expected to work together with ministries/agencies to provide assistance.
It is hoped that through this integrated assistance, relevant stakeholders will be able to map the problems that are still being faced in the field in reducing the stunting rate, Hadi said.
The problems faced in the field so far have been clubbed under governance, specific intervention, and sensitive intervention aspects. The three aspects were discussed during the National Technical Coordination Meeting on Monday in the context of consolidating convergence to accelerate stunting reduction.
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Translator: Rizka Khaerunnisa, Resinta S
Editor: Sri Haryati
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