"The Sumedang district government has succeeded in empowering all the potential that exists in its territory with an electronic system as a tool to reduce stunting," Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in a press release received here on Friday.
SPBE presents clear data and information on several aspects, such as villages with a high prevalence of stunting, statistical data on children affected by stunting, and the causes of stunting in villages, he informed.
With the existing data, the handling of stunting in each village can be tailored to the obstacles faced, he added.
On Friday, the minister directly reviewed SPBE implementation at the Sumedang District Government Office.
He informed that the regional government has succeeded in utilizing the technology to accelerate stunting handling.
The stunting prevalence rate in Sumedang district declined from 32.2 percent in 2018 to 8.27 percent in 2022.
Sumedang district has successfully implemented the SPBE and used it as a database to reduce stunting, he noted.
"Later, this SPBE will be replicated nationally in all regions of Indonesia," he added.
He then explained that in order to prevent stunting, specific interventions for mothers, teenage girls, and children aged 6 to 24 months are needed.
"For mothers, we must maintain their health since they were teenagers. The most important thing is the mother cannot experience anemia. We carry out intervention by giving blood-added tablets and make sure they really consume it,” he said.
Another effort carried out by the government has been to provide animal proteins as complementary food for children aged 6 to 24 months.
The additional food must contain animal proteins such as fish, chicken, and beef, or eggs, which are the easiest source of the proteins.
"If children already experience stunting, the treatment will be too complex. If the children's weight does not increase, they must be taken to the health center for intervention and given additional food for 14 days," the minister said.
In addition, head of Sumedang district Dony Ahmad Munir said SPBE is part of a collaboration of all existing components to handle stunting in his area.
"We use the electronic-based government system technology. We also have an integrated stunting handling information system platform or Simpati," he added.
The Simpati platform connects various interests, starting from integrated health post (posyandu) cadres, health centers, villages, related agencies, and regional leaders, and helps them obtain stunting reports. The general public or parents can also use the application to check the nutritional status of their children, he informed.
Munir said that the platform contains spatial data, regional spatial data, has statistical information by name and address for the highest number of stunted sub-districts and villages, stunting sufferers, along with analytical data related to the causes of stunting.
The regional government also has an online geospatial information system (Sigeon), which is used to map various data in residents' houses. Sigeon is useful for various purposes, including for the health sector, he informed.
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Translator: Andi Firdaus, Resinta S
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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