Based on the Health Ministry's Basic Health Research (Riskesdas), the prevalence of anemia among teenage girls in Yogyakarta is experiencing an upward trend from 37.1 percent in 2013 to 48.9 percent in 2018.
Within that percentage, the demographics that suffer from anemia the most are those in the age groups of 15–24 years and 25–34 years.
According to Pamungkasiwi, the Yogyakarta Health Office pays special attention to anemia cases in order to prevent stunting in children. Action to prevent this includes examining the hemoglobin (Hb) level of teenage girls as future mothers.
"In addition, we also give blood supplement tablets to teenagers," she said.
The birth of children at risk of stunting involves a long cycle, and it is triggered when future mothers are still teenagers or not yet married.
Thus, the Yogyakarta Health Office handles stunting using a life cycle approach.
Because stunting involves a long cycle, the office's intervention began with teenagers, she explained.
According to the Yogyakarta Health Office, the prevalence of stunting cases in the province in 2019 reached 21.04 percent, then 17.3 percent in 2021, before decreasing to 16.4 percent in 2022.
Pamungkasiwi believes that various health and education approaches will be able to reduce the stunting figure in Yogyakarta to 14 percent by 2024, in accordance with the target within Presidential Regulation No. 72 of 2021.
To achieve this target, all villages in Yogyakarta have a stunting reduction acceleration team (TPPS) whose job involves carrying out health and non-health interventions.
Health interventions include the provision of additional food, tablets, or multivitamins, as well as other health services. Meanwhile, non-health interventions include healthy lifestyle education efforts and stunting data provision.
"All villages have it (TPPS), but their mobilization speed certainly differs in each village," she said.
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Translator: Luqman Hakim, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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