The 2022 Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey (SSGI) result showed that North Sulawesi's stunting prevalence stood at 20.5 in 2022.
"Stunting handling must be (carried out) jointly, through cooperation, and not individually," Head of the North Sulawesi Representative Office of BKKBN Diano T. Tandaju stated here on Friday.
According to Tandaju, the North Sulawesi BKKBN cannot work alone to reduce stunting prevalence in the province, with a population of over 2.6 million.
To this end, the North Sulawesi BKKBN is cooperating with various parties, such as the provincial, city, and district governments; private parties; academicians; universities; and the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police (Polri) in the efforts to handle stunting.
"Synergy of all parties is needed, so that our common goal of reducing stunting prevalence in 2024 can be achieved," he affirmed.
According to Tandaju, a design was required for accelerating stunting handling efforts that can be implemented down to the district and city levels.
"We have to set indicators that reach the implementation stage, so that the district, city, and village levels can implement what has been prepared to achieve the set target of 12.37 percent in 2024," he stated.
Acting Head of the North Sulawesi Provincial Planning and Development Agency (Bappeda) Elvira Katuuk stated that preventing stunting as early as possible is a joint task.
"They (children) will later become our golden generation in 2045," she stated.
Indonesia's stunting prevalence in 2022 declined by 2.8 percentage points to 21.6 percent, from 24.4 percent in 2021, based on the 2022 SSGI survey of 334,848 samples comprising babies and under-five children.
The Indonesian government aims to reduce stunting prevalence to 17.8 percent this year and 14 percent in 2024.
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Translator: Karel Alexander, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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