In the long term, the empowerment of a woman will also create a smart, tough, stunting-free generationJakarta (ANTARA) - Women's Empowerment and Child Protection Minister Bintang Puspayoga is of the firm belief that empowered women will be capable of creating an intelligent, strong, and stunting-free generation.
"In the long term, the empowerment of a woman will also create a smart, tough, stunting-free generation," the minister noted in a statement here on Monday.
According to Puspayoga, stunting is not merely a growth or health-related issue, but rather, more complex problems come into play, such as social and cultural issues in the form of child marriages, lack of implementation of equal parenting, violence against mothers, and impediments to women's economic empowerment.
"Stunting is still a national issue that threatens the fulfillment of children's basic rights," she remarked.
According to the minister, child marriages and nurturing children were issues covered in the five directives of President Joko Widodo that were still being faced and have a significant impact on stunting prevalence.
Equal parenting that had yet to be fully implemented by families in Indonesia is another factor that impacts stunting prevalence.
She emphasized that parenting in the family must become a joint responsibility of the father and mother. An equal perspective and mutual support between fathers and mothers in parenting are the key to fulfilling the children's nutritional needs in the first one thousand days of life to prevent stunting.
To this end, the Ministry of Women's Empowerment and Child Protection is encouraging all parties to work towards empowering women and prioritizing the concept of equal parenting, preventing violence against women and children, and curbing incidents of child marriages.
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 Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey (SSGI) of 334,848 samples comprising babies and children under the age of five.
The Indonesian government aims to reduce stunting prevalence to 17.8 percent this year and 14 percent by 2024.
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Translator: Anita Permata, Raka Adji
Editor: Sri Haryati
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