"It is better to do prevention starting from pregnancy and childbirth, so people will not give birth to stunted children," he said during a working visit to Keong village market in Lebak Regency, Banten, on Wednesday.
His ministry has been tasked with ensuring stunting prevention, especially taking care of pregnant women from the stage of conception until giving birth so that babies are born healthy.
Efforts to reduce the risk of stunting, according to him, need to be carried out starting from adolescence and cover prospective brides, couples getting married, and pregnant women till the time they give birth.
"So, the prevention efforts should be carried out from upstream," he added.
According to the minister, handling stunting requires the involvement of all elements of society as well as relevant stakeholders.
So far, extremely poor families are the most vulnerable to stunting as they face economic difficulties in providing adequate nutrition to pregnant women and children.
Related news: Stunting prevention vital in achieving Golden Indonesia 2045: BKKBN
Therefore, Wihaji asked regional heads to help extremely poor families through the house renovation program and by ensuring sanitation and clean water access.
Collaboration with entrepreneurs is also important to provide nutritious food to families at risk of stunting.
"The government is certainly here to save the next generation from stunting," he affirmed.
In addition, he informed that the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) will help with nutrition management.
"We are preparing the Golden Generation of 2045, so now we must make efforts and work well to reduce stunting rates," he said.
Through Presidential Regulation Number 72 of 2021 concerning the Acceleration of Stunting Reduction, the government is targeting to lower the national stunting rate to 14 percent this year.
In 2023, stunting prevalence was recorded at 21.6 percent based on the Indonesian Health Survey (SKI).
Related news: Tackling malnutrition in Indonesia through collaborative efforts
Translator: Mansyur Suryana, Yashinta Difa
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Copyright © ANTARA 2024
