Heru Budi Calls His Children Starting Down The Field Take Data From Jakarta Residents Allegedly Stunting

Acting Governor of DKI Heru Budi Hartono/DOK PHOTO: Diah Ayu-VOI

JAKARTA - Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono said that today the ranks of the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government began to go to the field to record the identities of residents suspected of stunting. This follows up on the direction of the central government which targets a reduction in stunting rates in Indonesia and an agreement with the Ministry of Health regarding the synchronization of data on stunting intervention targets. "Coordinated by the Assistant for Government, all mayors, to the lurah, the PPAPP Service, the Health Service, today went to the field to collect data that is said to be stunting," Heru said when met in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, Thursday, February 2. In addition, Heru also instructed his staff to meet pregnant women in Jakarta and asked them to check their health at the puskesmas. Heru said that stunting prevention efforts in children were more effective with the target of pregnant women. According to Heru, when health care facilities find out about the condition of pregnant women based on the results of the examination, the government can find out the targets of the community who need assistance in improving their nutrition. "If she is malnourished, anemia, we intervene, making it easier for pregnant women to get pregnant. Now everything is running throughout the city," he explained. Yesterday, Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin visited the DKI Jakarta City Hall to meet Heru, discussing the acceleration of the reduction in stunting rates in the capital city. Stunting is a serious problem for President Joko Widodo. Jokowi also targets the stunting rate in Indonesia to drop to 14 percent by 2024. As of 2022, the national average stunting rate is at 21 percent. Budi said the first step taken by the government to effectively reduce stunting in Jakarta was to match the data on pregnant women and babies by name by address belonging to the Ministry of Health, the DKI Provincial Government, and the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN). "We have agreed, number one tidy up the data. So the data must be the same by name by address between data from the Ministry of Health, Governor's data, and BKKBN data. We have agreed that it will be equalized within a week," said Budi. After the data is matched, the Ministry of Health and the DKI Provincial Government will determine priority programs to intervene in reducing stunting targeting groups of pregnant women and babies. "We focus on two groups, pregnant women because of the highest risk before giving birth, and a group of babies 6-24 months because there they need additional food outside of breast milk whose needs are specific," he explained.