Pandemic Situation Prevents Government From Fighting Stunting, Sri Mulyani's Staff: 0-2 Years Old Are Most Vulnerable

JAKARTA - The Director-General of Fiscal Balance of the Ministry of Finance (Kemenkeu) Astera Primanto Bhakti said, the COVID-19 pandemic added to the government's challenges in reducing the prevalence of stunting in children to 14 percent in 2024 as stated in the 2020-2024 National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN).

"The pandemic has hampered stunting prevention activities, including the disruption of services to the community as a result", he said virtually at the National Coordination Meeting for the Acceleration of Stunting Reduction on Monday, August 23.

According to Astera, some of the things that become obstacles in the pandemic situation include counseling at the Integrated Healthcare Center (posyandu), classes for pregnant women, family development for toddlers, access of the poor to food, a decrease in household income which has an impact on fulfilling nutritious food.

"Children who have lost their parents due to COVID-19 have the potential to experience a decrease in their quality of life, such as care, health, and education which of course have an impact on the child's growth and development", he said.

Astera added that children aged 0-2 years have a higher vulnerability because they have the potential to experience stunting. It was stated that government data in 2019 showed that the stunting prevalence rate in Indonesia had decreased substantially to 27.7 percent.

"In this case, it is lower when compared to 2013 which is 37.2 percent", he said.

Meanwhile, the positive results are because the issue of stunting has become a national priority and is outlined in the five pillars of the national strategy to accelerate stunting prevention or strana-stunting through a multi-sectoral approach and physical nutrition interventions in the form of vitamins and drugs.

"The priority targets, namely pregnant women and children aged 0-2 years, are the focus of the government in suppressing the national stunting rate. Although it has decreased in recent years, Indonesia is still relatively high in terms of the general stunting prevalence rate in the world", he explained.

To note, the government through the Ministry of Finance has set the health budget in the 2022 State Revenue and Expenditure Budget Plan (RAPBN) at IDR 255.3 trillion.

This amount is less than the allocation in the 2021 State Budget (APBN) which is IDR 326.4 trillion. This means that there will be a decrease of IDR 71.1 trillion starting next year.

What's interesting is that next year the government's main focus will not only be on handling COVID-19 but also eradicating stunting in the community. This was confirmed by the Minister of Finance during an online press conference following the President's reading of the 2022 Financial Note at the House of Representatives (DPR) on August 16.

"Next year's health budget will still be dominated by the handling of COVID, but we will also support various programs beyond that such as the stunting elimination program, as well as reforms in the health sector", he said.