As A Result Of Stunting, 6 Million Indonesian Children Could Lose 15 Points Of IQ

Ilustrasi (Photo by Robert Collins on Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Six million Indonesian children are threatened with losing their Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of 10 to 15 points due to stunting. And this is a danger to their future.

"Based on 2019 SSGI data, our children's IQ points have decreased by 10 to 15 points for every child of six million Indonesian children," said YARSI University Chancellor Prof. Dr. Fasli Jalal, in a Webinar in Jakarta, Friday, June 24, quoted from Antara. .

Fasli said the average IQ points owned by Indonesian children is only around 78. The IQ is lower than the average IQ points owned by children in Japan, which is 106, the increase in IQ is further exacerbated by the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic that hit the world .

This has an impact on six million children in Indonesia being late for school and tending to have poorer academic achievements. In fact, sometimes dropping out of school at a young age.

Stunting, said Fasli, also makes children lose about one percent of their height and 1.4 percent of their productivity. If stunting continues, the health quality of the nation's children will decline and economic activities will be disrupted.

"Sometimes dropping out of school at an early age makes them have lower incomes than their friends who are normal in body condition. He will also lose income, the state will also lose Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," said Fasli.

Fasli added that stunting is not only detrimental to individual children, but also to the state. The cost for handling nutrition for children affected by stunting is estimated to reach Rp. 300 trillion to Rp. 400 trillion. Potential GDP also decreased by about two to three percent.

"BPJS could go bankrupt because it finances the impact of stunting as a non-communicable disease. This condition will make inter-generational poverty worse," he said.

He hopes that all parties can take the problem of stunting more seriously, because it reduces children's cognitive abilities. The development of the brain is disrupted, the ability to compete in the modern economic era declines and the body shrinks.

Stunting is also closely related to reduced productivity and makes children vulnerable to infectious diseases. His body health is so low, there can even be changes in metabolism at the cellular level that make the cells quickly swell and fat.

"This is what makes him obese, diabetes, heart disease, blood vessel disease, stroke and others," he said.