Great! West Java Is The Best Province To Reduce Stunting, Bali Is The Healthiest

JAKARTA - West Java Province occupies the top position in successfully reducing the stunting prevalence rate in 2024, followed by South Sumatra and South Sulawesi.

The award was handed over at the National Coordination Meeting (Rakornas) for the Acceleration of Stunting Reduction 2025 which was held at the Ministry of Health Building, Jakarta, Wednesday, November 12.

In the report submitted, the prevalence of stunting in West Java was successfully reduced from 21.7 percent in 2023 to 15.9 percent in 2024. Meanwhile, South Sumatra fell from 20.3 percent to 16.8 percent, and South Sulawesi from 27.4 percent to 23.3 percent.

The province of Bali has been named the region with the lowest stunting prevalence in Indonesia. Klungkung Regency recorded 5.1 percent, Gianyar 5.4 percent, and Badung 7.2 percent.

The Indonesian Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin expressed his appreciation for the hard work of various parties involved in the program to accelerate the reduction of national stunting.

"For the first time, the national stunting rate is below 20 percent," Budi said in his speech quoted from Antara.

According to the 2024 Indonesian Nutrition Status Survey (SSGI), the prevalence of national stunting is now at 19.8 percent. The government targets this figure to continue to fall to 14 percent by 2029, and reach 5 percent by 2045.

Budi called this achievement an important milestone in efforts to improve children's nutrition in Indonesia. He explained that stunting is a chronic nutrition problem that causes children's weight and height to be below normal standards.

The stunting reduction intervention is carried out through two main approaches, namely specific programs in the health sector and sensitive outside the health sector.

"Out of health, for example, prevention of early marriage, cleanliness of water, sanitation, and access to proper toilets. Meanwhile, in the health sector, we focus on ensuring that the nutrition of pregnant women is sufficient and prevents anemia," explained Budi.

He emphasized that most stunting cases started from the mother's condition during pregnancy. Therefore, fulfilling maternal nutrition and health is the main key in stunting prevention.

Budi also reminded the importance of animal protein intake for children after an exclusive breastfeeding period, especially at the age of 12 '24 months.

"Usually the increase in stunting rates occurs after children stop breastfeeding due to lack of animal protein intake, even though at that time the body really needed these nutrients," said the Minister of Health.