"Stunting must become a national movement since it already has public awareness, not only by the government and the agencies. Everyone is concerned about stunting," he said at a coordination meeting with the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The participation of all parties is important for accelerating stunting reduction, he added.
For example, the effort can involve intervention during the first 1,000 days of life (HPK), which is a crucial period in a human's life. This period must be optimized both for the provision of nutritional intake and for the child's ability to grow and develop.
Stunting awareness must also be increased because based on data from the World Bank, in 2019, at least 54 percent of the productive workforce in Indonesia had experienced stunting, he added.
"Our Human Development Index (HDI) still needs improvements. We must prepare our future generation to be better than us," he stressed.
Therefore, Effendy said he hopes that the stunting alleviation program can be carried out by each family.
"If we have the same vision to alleviate stunting, the efforts will be much easier to be implemented," he added.
In addition, BKKBN Head Hasto Wardoyo informed that according to data from the Health Ministry, in 2022, the factors that helped reduce stunting were the fulfillment of breast milk (96.4 percent), animal protein sources (69.9 percent), early breastfeeding initiation (IMD) (60.1 percent), provision of nutrition counseling (32 percent), milk and processed sources (30.1 percent), and exclusive breastfeeding (16.7 percent).
Therefore, the focus of BKKBN’s stunting intervention efforts is on the pre-marital period, pregnancy, and until the 1,000 HPK, based on the directives issued by President Joko Widodo and Minister Effendy.
The involvement of all parties can influence the acceleration of stunting reduction, for example, in fulfilling children's need for animal proteins, Wardoyo noted.
"Animal proteins do not have to be expensive. Catfish is better than beef, and mackerel is also good. We do not need expensive imported fish," he said.
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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma S, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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