Health Office Records 882 Children At OKU, South Sumatra Experiencing Stunting Throughout 2021

OKU - Ogan Komering Ulu District Health Office, South Sumatra (OKU South Sumatra), throughout 2021 recorded as many as 882 stunting cases experienced by children in the region.

Head of the Public Health Division of the Ogan Komering Ulu Health Service (OKU), Dedi Wijaya, said the number was down when compared to 2020, which reached 921 cases.

This decrease in cases was due to assistance from a number of village officials who budgeted funds to reduce the number of stunting cases in OKU Regency.

In addition to budgeting funds, continued Dedi, village officials at OKU are also proactive in providing socialization to their residents on how to provide nutritious food for toddlers by utilizing local natural resources.

"They are also active in helping local governments to revive posyandu in their respective areas so that residents who used to be lazy to come to posyandu, are now gradually willing to come again," he said in Baturaja, Antara, Thursday, February 17.

Dedi added that stunting itself is a chronic nutritional problem caused by a lack of nutritional intake for a long time. This results in growth disorders in children, namely the child's height is lower or shorter (short) than the standard age.

"Therefore, the central government has assigned relevant agencies in each region to reduce the number of stunting cases so that all children in Indonesia have a normal body size," he said.