Efforts By The Ministry Of Education And Culture To Accelerate Stunting Reduction And Poverty In NTT

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Population and Development of the State Family (Kemendukbangga/BKKBN) is preparing a program to accelerate the reduction in stunting and extreme poverty in Indonesia.

This program is part of the government's efforts to deal with two major issues that are of national concern, namely extreme poverty and stunting, which are still major challenges in a number of regions, especially in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT).

The Minister of Education and Culture, Wihaji, explained that his party is designing a pilot project in NTT, which has a fairly high prevalence of stunting.

"We are implementing the Pentahelix program which involves various parties to accelerate the reduction in stunting and extreme poverty. We are also implementing Presidential Instruction Number 4 of 2022 concerning extreme poverty as well as reducing stunting," said Wihaji, when met at the Ministry of Education and Culture's office, East Jakarta on Monday, January 13, 2025.

According to Wihaji, this pilot project will involve various elements, including the Minister of Health, Minister of Social Affairs, Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Minister of Housing and Settlement Areas.

In addition, the National Nutrition Agency, the Universitas Brawijaya, the University of Muhamadiyah Malang, the Governor of NTT Elected Melki 'Johni and the Head of the NTT Province BKKBN Representative who support this program.

The plan is that the Ministry of Education and Culture will work together with Free Nutrition Food, especially pregnant women and toddlers. On January 20, the Ministry of Education and Culture will be proud to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with BGN to support this program.

"We cannot work alone. We will cooperate with various parties, including the Free Nutrition Food program for pregnant women and toddlers," he added.

Wihaji said the stunting reduction target would follow the government's direction, which was around 18 percent. Regarding the source of funds for its implementation, Wihaji admitted that he did not use the state budget, because this is the movement of foster parents to prevent stunting.

On that occasion, the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology (Mendiktisaintek), Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro also conveyed the importance of the role of universities in this program.

"Universities are expected to have a positive impact on society and the nation, especially in the NTT region. This program is very important and we hope that the two appointed campuses can help directly in NTT," said Brodjonegoro.

According to Brodjonegoro, universities have extraordinary potential in empowering their students to contribute to overcoming extreme poverty in NTT.

"The campus must be able to mobilize the potential of its students to help overcome this social problem," he added.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Health, Dante Saksono Harbuwono, emphasized that stunting must be done early on, even before children are identified as stunting.

"We are committed to making a specific approach before stunting emerges. One of the main focuses is ensuring the health of mothers and prospective mothers, including providing blood supplements for young women who are prone to anemia," explained Harbuwono.

Harbuwono added that if pregnant women are in an anemia, the risk of stunting in children will increase. Therefore, early prevention is a very important step to reduce stunting in Indonesia, especially in areas with high prevalence such as NTT.