TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The prevalence of stunting in Bogor District, West Java Province, stood at 32.9 percent with 859,501 infants in 2018, Head of the district administration's health office Mike Kaltarina revealed on Tuesday. Thus, a total of 282,627 infants in Bogor District still suffer from stunted growth but whether the prevalence of stunting would decline this year would be known by the end of 2019, she said.

"We are going to evaluate this year's prevalence of stunting in Bogor District in December," she said, adding that supplementary feeding programs and sustainable public awareness campaigns need to be necessarily intensified as part of the preventive programs.

Stunting is perceived as a serious problem. In addressing it, the University of Indonesia's (UI's) Faculty of Public Health, for instance, recently collaborated with the authorities of Babakan Madang Subdistrict administration and Bogor District's health office to educate residents about stunting prevention efforts.

The targeted participants of this upgrading program were mainly health cadres and apparatuses of village administration in Bogor District, West Java, Head of the UI's Faculty of Public Health Team Evi Martha revealed in a press statement on November 10.

"The residents' participation in sharing necessary information on stunting with their colleagues in their neighborhood areas can be a gate for more comprehensive efforts to prevent stunting from preconception period to the first 1,000 days of life," she said.

For now, the upgrading program, covered four villages in Babakan Madang Subdistrict, Bogor District, but it could later be introduced to many more villages so that more people were able to detect, prevent, and care for children with stunted growth.

Stunting is always ignored as a serious issue in the community, though the accumulated cases of malnourishment potentially contribute to the emergence of public health problems in the future, according to Evi Martha.

The Indonesian Government is well aware of the impact of stunting on the nation's future.

Therefore, President Joko Widodo ordered Health Minister Terawan Agus to reduce stunting among Indonesian children at the first plenary meeting of the Indonesia Onward Cabinet 2019-2024 on October 24.

ANTARA