Stunting Rate Continues To Decline, Mayor Eri Is Optimistic That Surabaya Will Soon Achieve Zero Stunting

Mayor of Surabaya Eri Cahyadi. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The stunting rate in Surabaya continues to decline. According to the Surabaya Health Office, as of early March 2022, the figure was 1,626 from the position on January 31, 2022, with 1,657 children under five.

This note makes Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi optimistic that the area he leads will achieve zero stunting in the next three months. "I want the next three months to continue to be monitored," Mayor Eri Cahyadi was quoted as saying by Antara, Sunday, March 6.

The decline in the stunting rate in Surabaya is indeed quite rapid. Data from the Surabaya City Health Office previously stated that the stunting rate in Surabaya in October 2021 was 5,727 cases, however, not until the end of 2021, the number of stunting was able to be overcome until it fell to 1,785 cases.

Eri said that in overcoming the stunting problem, it was not only the task of the Surabaya City Government and TP PKK, but also the role of the Great Surabaya Cadre and all stakeholders. With this togetherness, he hopes that the stunting rate in the city of Surabaya can be suppressed again.

"We are fully supported by the Indonesian Pediatrician Association (IDAI) in East Java, so that all stakeholders will later become one part in order to achieve zero stunting," he said.

He conveyed the message, the government's job is not to embarrass the poor, because the government is here to provide the best for the people of Surabaya.

Therefore, he wants the cadres to continue the Surabaya Emas movement (Elimination of Stunting Problems) as a motivation to overcome stunting in the future.

"God willing, later when the Great Surabaya Cadre SK appears, I want it per RW. So later per RW it will get an award, if the stunting rate is the least. Not only stunting, but also no malnutrition, poor people who do not enter into the MBR (low-income community), I hope there will be no more," said the former head of the Surabaya City and Planning Agency (Bappeko).