Mendes PDTT Abdul Halim Iskandar: Convergence Of Child Stunting In The Village Increases To 32.96 Percent

Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions, and Transmigration, Abdul Halim Iskandar. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration (Mendes PDTT) Abdul Halim Iskandar said the stunting convergence of children under 2 years of age rose to 32.96 percent. This is in accordance with the new direction of village development, namely ensuring the acceleration of stunting reduction in villages.

Abdul Halim said the reduction in stunting in the village chose a priority in building the future of children by paying attention to the health and education of children, including paying attention to the health and education of the mother of the prospective children.

Operationally, continued Abdul Halim, the development agenda for accelerating stunting reduction is carried out by providing complete, accurate, and sustainable data related to children and mothers in the village. Therefore, the achievement of 18 village sustainable development goals (SDG's) begins with collecting village data based on RT, households and individuals.

Abdul Halim said overall, stunting convergence in the village was divided into convergence for pregnant women and for children under the age of 2 years. Convergence towards pregnant women increased from 38.41 percent to 47.39 percent.

"Meanwhile, stunting convergence for children under 2 years of age increased from 27.43 percent to 32.96 percent. In the future, stunting convergence activities in villages must continue to be increased both for children aged 0-2 years and for pregnant women," he said in a statement. National Coordination Meeting 'Moving Together to Accelerate Stunting Reduction' virtually, Monday, August 23.

Therefore, said Abdul Halim, village development policies are focused on micro and continuous data collection on pregnant women and children aged 0-2 years, including using applications. Second, assisting the implementation of stunting convergence.

"The third is increasing the capacity of posyandu services. The fourth is increasing the construction of livable houses, related to the provision of clean water facilities," he explained.

Then, the fifth is increasing the participation of health insurance, especially mothers and children. Finally, the fulfillment of birth certificates for all children.

In addition, said Abdul Halim, in PP No. 60 of 2014 concerning Village Funds, the Kemendes PDTT has a mandate to set priorities for the use of village funds every year. Therefore, stunting management has become a priority since 2019. The government has set priorities for stunting in Aceh, NTB, NTT, West Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, Central Kalimantan, Gorontalo, Central Sulawesi, West Sulawesi and Southeast Sulawesi.

"At that location, village funds have been used for midwife operations amounting to Rp. 74.9 billion, purchasing medicine of Rp. 221.5 billion, providing additional food of Rp. 2.1 billion, and for the rehabilitation of poskesdes buildings of Rp. 4.7 billion, building rehabilitation and operations of the Komdes. Rp. 1.2 trillion, and Rp. 1.9 trillion for the rehabilitation of posyandu development and operations," he said.

In fact, said Abdul Halim, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, village funds were still channeled for the purchase of drugs amounting to Rp. 203.6 billion. Midwife operations amounted to IDR 18.2 billion, and supplementary feeding increased to IDR 3.9 billion.

"The rehabilitation of buildings and operations for poskesdes is Rp. 2.3 billion, rehabilitation of buildings and operations of pollides is Rp. 579.1 billion, and the rehabilitation of buildings and operations of posyandu is Rp. 1.2 trillion," he said.