West Papua Provincial Government Optimistic Of Being Able To Reduce Child Stunting Cases

Head of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) at the West Papua Health Office, Dr. Nurmayanti/Photo: Antara

MANOKWARI - The West Papua Provincial Health Office stated that it is optimistic that it will be able to reduce stunting cases, which are still high in child development in the region.

The Head of Disease Prevention and Control (P2P) at the West Papua Health Office, Dr. Nurmayanti in Manokwari, Monday, May 23, said that currently stunting cases in West Papua are at a prevalence of 26.2 percent, much higher than the national figure of 24.41 percent.

In fact, she said, in six districts in West Papua, stunting cases were more than 30 percent.

However, the West Papua Health Office targets that by 2024 stunting cases in the region will fall to 12 percent or below 14 percent.

"Although our target is quite heavy, with the efforts and hard work of all parties, we are optimistic that it can be achieved," said Nurmayanti as quoted by Antara.

According to her, the task of reducing stunting cases is not solely the responsibility of the health sector, but must involve cross-sectoral involvement.

One of the concrete efforts to reduce stunting cases, said Nurmayanti, is that all children must receive complete immunizations to avoid the risk of disease.

"Immunization is closely related to efforts to reduce stunting rates. We hope that the implementation of the current national immunization month can be successful so that we can slowly reduce stunting rates in West Papua," she said.

The cause of children experiencing growth delays is due to lack of nutritional intake during infancy. Malnutrition in children is one of the triggering factors because they are often sick, so it has implications for growth disorders.

"Lack of immunizations than they should receive will cause children to get sick more often. If they are sick, nutritional intake will be hampered and in the end, the child will become malnourished," said Nurmayanti.