Stunting In NTT Drops 2.3 Percent, Governor Viktor Values Mediocre, Asks 22 Regencies/Cities To Work Hard

NTT Governor Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat. (ANTARA/HO-Public Relations Bureau of the Regional Secretariat of NTT Province)

KUPANG - East Nusa Tenggara Governor, Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat, said cases of stunting in children in the local province had decreased by 3.2 percent during the period August 2020-August 2021.

"In August 2020, the stunting rate in NTT was at 24.2 percent, but in August this year we were at 21 percent, there was a decrease in cases of 3.2 percent", he said in a press release from the Public Relations Bureau of the NTT Secretariat received in Kupang, Antara, Tuesday, October 12.

Governor Viktor said the decline in stunting cases was due to the support and intervention of various programs to improve maternal and child nutrition presented by both the regional and central governments and parties outside the government.

However, he assessed that the decline in cases was still mediocre because there were still as many as 80,909 children in NTT who were stunted.

This is because the governor asked the local governments in 22 districts/cities throughout NTT to improve their performance tremendously in the fight against stunting.

"Because the decrease in cases is mediocre, it means that our work is not optimal", he said.

The governor also asked the district/city governments to take integrated, targeted steps in dealing with stunting.

With a good work plan, he said, the first 1,000 days of a baby's life can be considered for the fulfillment of food nutrition and health so that the potential for stunting can be prevented.

"Therefore, it requires the cooperation of various parties from the village level to the governor because the stunting problem is a shared responsibility", he said.