"A lengthy process is required in the efforts to prevent stunting. One of the measures we take is by educating teen girls because they are prospective mothers, who are expected to give birth to healthy babies, with no stunted condition," head of the East Kalimantan National Population and Family Planning Agency Sunarto stated in Samarinda on Monday.
Currently, the stunting prevalence rate in the province was recorded at 22.8 percent. On a national scale, the stunting prevalence rate is at 24.4 percent, and President Joko Widodo has aimed to push down the rate to 14 percent by 2024, to which end, his administration has striven to meet the target.
The efforts to reduce stunting through prospective mothers, for which the success rate was 104.7 percent, is pursued by the Youth Information and Counseling (PIK) group and Youth Family Education (BKR).
Sunarto remarked that the groups provided the teens with reproductive health education and nutrition, because in the future, they would be mothers, so their mentality, knowledge, and nutrition should be improved since early on.
The achievement percentage was because the groups exceeded the initial targets of 380 groups. They managed to cater to 397 groups. Sunarto commended everyone involved in the efforts.
Each area that was covered in the group's prevention efforts showed a different achievement rate, such as Mahakam Ulu District, with 100 percent; Bontang City, 100 percent; Penajam North Paser District, 100 percent; and East Kutai District, 102.5 percent.
In Samarinda City, the coverage reached 102.9 percent; Balikpapan City capped at 103.3 percent; Paser District at 104.5 percent; Berau District at 110 percent, West Kutai District at 111.1 percent, and Kutai Kartanegara District, 115 percent.
Over the course of 2022, the regional agency also facilitated families with toddlers under two years of age in the efforts to improve the first one thousand days of life. The achievement rate was capped at 110.4 percent.
Sunarto noted that the measures they took were aimed at preventing stunting as well as for creating a smarter generation for Indonesia in preparation for the 2045 vision.
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Translator: M Ghofar, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Sri Haryati
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