"A shift in people's behavior to adopt healthy living practices constitute one of the keys to preventing stunting. One way to realize the shift is by being aware that fish is much better than vegetables in the efforts to tackle the stunting potential," Wardoyo noted in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He highlighted Presidential Regulation Number 72 of 2021 concerning stunting alleviation acceleration that deems PHBS adoption as necessary to eradicate stunting. According to the regulation, it is essential to ensure that families have proper access to clean water and sanitation facilities.
However, he noted that the behavior also needs to be adopted through promoting a shift in people's eating behavior by diverting their meals from instant foods to those that are rich in animal protein.
He cited as an example fish, which contains unsaturated fatty acids in the form of Omega3, iodine, fluoride, iron, magnesium, zinc, taurine, and coenzyme Q10.
In addition, families striving to adopt PHBS need to pay close attention to reproductive health. In this context, the BKKBN head appealed to families to understand the importance of avoiding the four don'ts while planning pregnancy.
"Do not get pregnant at too young an age, give birth too often, give birth within a narrow time interval, and give birth at an old age," Wardoyo said while elaborating on the four don'ts.
He also pressed for providing assistance to children in their adolescence to prevent them from going ahead with child marriages and premarital sex as well as keeping them away from the misuse of narcotics, psychotropics, and addictive substances (NAPZA).
Hence, the agency is collaborating with the Religious Affairs Ministry to prevent cases of child marriages from arising and conduct dissemination on how to improve the handling of the first thousand days of life (HPK) of children.
In addition, the BKKBN continues to implement the presidential regulation to help the government achieve its goal to reduce cases of stunting. Wardoyo also urged regional governments to comply with the regulation by echoing the importance of PHBS adoption.
"I would like to stress that we need to exert all-out efforts to handle stunting to improve the quality of Indonesia's population and face the demographic bonus as well as realize the Golden Indonesia 2025," he affirmed.
Translator: Hreeloita Dharma, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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