TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Vice President’s Secretariat (Sekwapres) Team for the Accelerated Prevention of Stunting (TP2AK) declared their plans for lowering the prevalence of stunting in an event titled 'Millennial’s Voice for Stunting' organized by SNV Indonesia, a Ducth non-profit subsidiary, in Kuningan, South Jakarta, on Wednesday, January 22, 2020.

“(Handling) stunting remains one of the priorities in the development of Indonesia. The purpose is for us to generate greater human resources,” said TP2AK Knowledge Management and Communication Team Leader, Farah Amini, on Wednesday, January 20.

It is important to point out that stunting refers to the condition where a child is significantly below the height average of their age group. Stunting, therefore, as pointed out by Farah, remains a major issue in Indonesia, with it being seen as a deterrent to the human resource development in the country; notably, one of President Jokowi’s main agendas.

The government’s efforts in lowering the prevalence of stunting have been ongoing since President Joko Widodo’s first period; with the efforts being handled by former vice president Jusuf Kalla, and Vice President Ma'ruf Amin, respectively.

In its efforts to combat stunting, TP2AK has enlisted 23 public institutions in the program, including the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Cultural Affairs, Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing.

Furthermore, TP2AK’s program in combating stunting would revolve around the 'specific nutrition intervention' program geared to provide short-term immediate solutions to dampen the impacts of stunting cases, as well as the 'sensitive nutrition intervention' program, to prevent future cases of stunting to happen. The former program will be headed by Indonesian Minister of Health, Terawan Agus Putranto, and Basuki Hadimuljono, Minister of Public Works and Public Housing, leading the second program.

The problem faced by TP2AK remains to ensure that the institutional support from the central government reaches their targeted demographic, namely; pregnant mothers, toddlers as well as teenagers. Furthermore, the TP2AK identified 260 priority regencies scattered across Indonesia, including Kupang and Cianjur.

“The program we have designed from the central government, including policies, facilitation and technical support, needs to be done by the regional government. These regional governments are the ones on the ground,” affirmed Farah.

DIO SUHENDA