There Are 550 Children Experiencing Stunting In Medan, The Most In Belawan, Bobby Nasution Prepares Business Programs For Parents

MEDAN - The stunting rate in Medan City is still high with 550 children, most of which are in Medan Belawan District. Of the total number of stunting sufferers, 20 percent of them are children over 2 years old, making it difficult to recover.

In addition to solving the settlement problem which is one of the triggers for stunting, the Medan City Government has also prepared a number of programs to prevent and overcome the condition of failure to thrive in children under five due to chronic malnutrition so that the child is too short for his age.

“In order to prevent stunting, we have created a number of programs, ranging from solving housing problems to programs that directly touch mothers. In addition, we also require that of the 550 children affected by stunting, all of their parents are assisted by establishing a business form," said Medan Mayor Bobby Nasution as quoted from a written statement, Thursday, August 25.

According to Bobby Nasution, stunting is also related to economic capacity. Related to that, President Joko Widodo's son-in-law has asked the Medan City Cooperatives and SMEs Office and the Social Service to record all children affected by stunting, including children who are vulnerable to stunting.

"We ask the Cooperatives and SMEs Office and the Social Service to help their parents create a business group," he said.

Bobby Nasution suggested that the business group that was created was related to food and drinks so it was very helpful and mothers could cook at home.

"Their business activities will be registered with the Local E-Catalog so that the Medan City Government will buy their food and drinks. We have programmed this, hopefully, it will run well," he hoped.

Meanwhile, Deputy Mayor of Semarang Hevearita Gunaryanti Rahayu said that in his area,

the establishment of the Urban Women Farmers Group was started. One group, he explained, could take advantage of the empty village yard and plant it with spinach, kale, lombok (chili), tomatoes, and eggplant. He said, all the plants can be planted in coastal areas.

“So ladies, don't think that in this coastal area the land cannot be planted. Maybe later, if the head of the district head or sub-district head permits Mr. Mayor to visit Semarang. Later you can see rows of fishermen's houses planted with the term urban farming. Because Belawan is also part of the city," he explained.

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