"It is necessary to strengthen cross-sectoral coordination and synergy, starting from ministries and agencies, regional governments, the Indonesian military (TNI), and the National Police (Polri), to other stakeholders,” deputy for the coordination of health quality improvement and population development at the ministry Agus Suprapto said when contacted on Tuesday.
This is in line with Presidential Regulation Number 72 of 2021, Article 8, paragraph 4, which highlights the need to involve all stakeholders in the implementation of efforts to expedite stunting reduction, he added.
"Starting from the government, businesses, universities, the public, to the media need to work jointly in efforts to accelerate stunting reduction," he said.
For instance, the role of regional governments is vital to ensure that specific and sensitive interventions are right on target at priority locations, he explained.
"Synergies between ministries and agencies as well as regional governments are also needed not only in terms of programs, but also in terms of the state budget (APBN) and regional budget (APBD)," he said.
One of the efforts that can be made for accelerating stunting reduction is strengthening coordination to map problems based on data jointly, he informed.
"Cross-sectoral discussion is needed regarding how the existing data can be utilized for planning. If the data is still insufficient, how to improve data availability in the future needs to be discussed," he said.
Apart from planning, data, and budgeting, coordination could be carried out thematically to support commitments, make regulations, and seek support to increase the coverage of programs, he added.
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 stunting reduction acceleration.
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Translator: Wuryanti Puspitasari, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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