Jakarta (ANTARA) - National Family Day (Harganas) is an opportunity to build the nation's resilience through family health, according to the chairperson of the Indonesian Medical Association (IDI), Adib Khumaidi.

Harganas is commemorated in Indonesia on June 29 every year.

Speaking at a press conference here on Wednesday, Khumaidi said efforts to build public health can begin with promoting family health.

For this year's Harganas, which is themed "Toward Stunting-Free Families for Advanced Indonesia," he outlined several health issues that can actually be prevented by the people, including stunting.

"Stunting is not a simple thing that can be solved by giving eggs every day, no. Stunting is a manifestation of health problems that we see not only in terms of medical and nutritional problems but also related to education," he explained.

He noted that handling stunting and other health problems cannot be done by health workers or stakeholders in the health sector alone.

The stunting reduction acceleration program carried out by the government needs multi-sectoral involvement, including that of the community.

To this end, he urged all parties to support the Ministry of Health and the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) so that no more children in Indonesia are affected by stunting.

The IDI, through the Indonesian Doctors Service Day some time ago, participated in helping regional governments take measures to eradicate stunting.

The IDI chairperson said one effort currently being carried out is the creation of a pilot project for assisted villages to evaluate interventions conducted with relevant stakeholders.

For that reason, he asked all parties to see Harganas as a push to build healthy families and improve literacy as well as families’ access to health information, for instance, on balanced diet and reproductive health.

Based on the 2022 Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey (SSGI), Indonesia's stunting prevalence stood at 21.6 percent.

President Joko Widodo has appointed the BKKBN as the chief coordinator for stunting reduction acceleration through Presidential Regulation Number 72 of 2021 on stunting reduction acceleration.

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Translator: Hreeloita Dharma, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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