Yogyakarta City Government Involves The Role Of Teenagers To Reduce Stunting Rates

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - The Yogyakarta City Government has strengthened the involvement of the role of teenagers as peer counselors to participate in reducing stunting rates in this area.

"We plan to strengthen the role of peer counselors or peers from teenagers," said Head of the Family Health and Nutrition Working Team of the Yogyakarta City Health Office, Iswari Paramita in a statement in Yogyakarta, quoted by Antara, Saturday, January 11.

According to Iswari, by involving the school intra student organization (OSIS) and the Education and Youth Office (Dindikpora), teenagers can play a role in becoming pioneers of sustainable good habits towards their peers through nutritional education and healthy habits.

In addition, they can also drive the habit of consuming tablets to add blood to reduce the anemia rate in young women, which is one of the risk factors for giving birth to stunting children in the future.

However, cases of anemia in Yogyakarta in young women were successfully suppressed from 29.5 percent in 2023 to 25.67 percent in 2024 through the consumption of blood-added tablets.

The Yogyakarta City Government, said Iswari, has allocated a budget from non-physical special allocation funds (DAK) for the provision of supplementary food (PMT) to pregnant women with anemia or chronic energy deficiency (KEK), as well as bantories experiencing nutritional problems.

Special funds (danais) are also given to the kelurahan to help families at risk of stunting.

"The non-physical DAK has limitations, so it requires support from various sectors. With cross-sectoral cooperation, related regional apparatus including corporations, the eradication of stunting problems will be more optimal," he said.

Iswari said the stunting prevalence rate in Yogyakarta City continued to show a downward trend with a stunting prevalence rate of 11.76 percent in 2023, and managed to drop to 11.27 percent in 2024.

His party also highlighted the increase in community participation in stunting eradication programs, from 89 percent in 2023 to 92 percent in 2024.

"When viewed from the figures, people who have not participated are most likely children who are not in trouble. This is a challenge to ensure that all families, especially those who are at risk, participate in this program," he said.

Stunting, said Iswari, is a condition of failure to grow due to chronic malnutrition which has an impact on children's physical and cognitive development.

He emphasized that stunting management is not only focused on toddlers, but also on teenage girls and pregnant women through various strategic programs, including through monitoring children's growth since pregnancy.

This step is combined with education about exclusive breast milk, providing supplementary food (PMT), and cross-sectoral synergy.

In 2025, said Iswari, it is projected that there will be 10,989 babies under five (toddlers) with 30 percent of them under two years (baduta) which is the main focus of the stunting prevention program.

"A total of 30 percent is still overall, if those with nutritional problems cannot be ascertained. Optimizing prevention early on (under 2 years) is more efficient in reducing the number of stunting cases," he said.