Stunting Case In 110 Villages In Kupang Tinggi, Development Planning Agency at Sub-National Level Prepares Plan To Involve Indonesia Army

The atmosphere of measuring children's health to prevent stunting at the posyandu in Pagomogo Village, Nagekeo, NTT, Friday 6 May. (AMONG)

NTT - A total of 110 villages that have the highest cases of stunting or stunting in the Kupang Regency are the attention of the local government.

Deputy Regent of Kupang, Jerry Manafe, said the handling of stunting was a serious concern for his government because of the high number of cases.

He said cases of stunting in children were still found in almost all villages in the district bordering the Oecusse region, Timor Leste.

According to him, the cases of stunting in children found in the area occurred in a married couple whose parents were still relatively young.

"We found that in the Amarasi area there are 5-6 children who are stunted. The children are raised by their grandmothers because their parents work in the city, so practically the nutritional needs of children are not very adequate because grandmothers are also busy working in the garden", said Jerry in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), quoted from Antara, Monday, July 25.

Jerry encouraged the village government in the area to make various breakthroughs in dealing with stunting in the local village.

"The village government can use village funds to deal with stunting. Let's set aside little village funds for solving the stunting problem. We can't solve it if we don't collaborate", he said.

He explained that the Development Planning Agency at the Sub-National Level (Bappeda) of Kupang Regency had made a design plan that involved the Regional Apparatus Organizations (OPD), Indonesian National Police, and Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), and Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) to jointly overcome stunting. "Today we are here to discuss how to solve this problem together", he said.

He hopes that village heads in 110 villages that will be the focus of handling stunting in 2022 will seriously make efforts to overcome stunting.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Kupang District Health Office, Robert Amaheka said, the total number of stunted in the Kupang Regency was 7,207 children or 24 percent and the target for reducing stunting in 2023 must remain at 10 percent.

"To overcome the stunting in 110 locus villages this year, we have asked for the involvement of 14 OPD", said Robert Amaheka.