DP3KB Mataram Finds 4 New Cases of Stunting

The activity of weighing children's weight at one of the posyandu in Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara Province. ANTARA/Nirkomala.

MATARAM - The Mataram City Population and Family Planning Control Office, West Nusa Tenggara Province, said that in 2025 four new cases of stunting were found.

The Deputy Head of the Mataram City Population and Family Planning Office (DPPKB) HM Carnoto said that the new stunting case findings in Mataram City were the lowest findings when compared to the other 10 districts/cities in NTB.

"Alhamdulillah, our new stunting cases are the smallest in NTB, only four cases. Meanwhile, in other areas there are 100 to 200 cases," he said in Mataram, Antara, Wednesday, February 11.

This was conveyed in accordance with the evaluation and release of data on stunting cases at the NTB Provincial level and for stunting cases in Mataram City based on the provincial release of 6.57 percent or about 1,600 toddlers.

"The stunting rate in Mataram City is also the lowest in NTB," he said.

Although the stunting rate and the new finding of stunting cases in Mataram City is the smallest in NTB, it still exists so that there must be a commitment to collaborate with all parties to carry out prevention efforts through families at risk of stunting.

According to him, the new case of stunting is likely to have an accompanying disease, because the problem of stunting is closely related to two points, namely consumption and infectious diseases.

"For this reason, stunting can be divided into two types, namely ordinary stunting and stunting with accompanying diseases. For example, pneumonia, congenital heart disease, and other diseases," he said.

Therefore, the intervention efforts carried out by DP3KB by optimizing monitoring from the time of pregnancy or the first 1,000 days of life (HPK) so that anemia or other health problems that trigger stunting do not occur.

"Although Mataram is below the national target of 14 percent, I personally have the ambition that Mataram must be zero stunting. Don't let there be any more stunting children in Mataram," he said.

The main strategy carried out to achieve the zero stunting target is by strengthening assistance to families at risk of stunting (KRS).

"KRS is included in the 4T criteria, namely too close (birth distance), too often (giving birth), too young (pregnant), and too old (pregnant)," he said.

The effort to pursue zero stunting, he said, involves a family companion team (TPK), and family planning (PKB) advisers.

The assistance is focused on three main target groups (3B) namely pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, infants and toddlers.

"The key is in these three groups, and in terms of public health science, preventive measures (prevention) are much more important than curative (treatment)," he said.