As A Priority District For Handling Stunting, Kayong Utara Optimizes The Role Of The Village Government

North Kayong Regency Government. (ANTARA/Rizal)

KALBAR - Deputy Regent of North Kayong, West Kalimantan (Kalbar), Effend Ahmad said the role of village government officials (pemdes) was very important in reducing stunting cases in the district.

"The issue of stunting has become a national agenda and North Kayong Regency is one of the priority districts for stunting handling in Indonesia in 2022," said Effendi Ahmad, who is also the Head of the Implementing Team for the Acceleration of Stunting Reduction (TPPS) in Sukadana, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, May 25.

He explained that the national target for stunting reduction in 2024 is 14 percent, and the prevalence of stunting in North Kayong Regency is 15.65 percent in 2022.

For this reason, he emphasized that the local government must implement a special strategy in preventing stunting in North Kayong.

"That is the commitment and vision of leadership in reducing stunting, national campaigns and communication of behavior change, convergence, coordination and consolidation of central, regional and village programs, food and nutrition security, as well as monitoring and evaluation," he said.

The participation of the village government is very important in reducing stunting rates, in accordance with the role of the Village Government based on Law Number 6 of 2014 then villages need to develop programs or activities that are relevant to stunting prevention, he said.

In stunting reduction interventions, synergies are needed between the health and non-health sectors.

"Implementation of this strategy requires stunting acceleration convergence action, in which the third action is stunting consultation," he said.

With the implementation of this stunting consultation, he hopes that communication between health cadres, Pre-schools (PAUD), village communities with the village government and BPD can run well in preventing and handling health problems in the village, especially the problem of stunting.