Want Stunting Rate To Go Down, Acting Governor Heru: Pregnant Mother Please Don't Ally Check Pregnancy

Minister of Health Budi Gunadi and Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono at the DKI City Hall, Wednesday, February 1. (Diah-VOI)

JAKARTA - Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono wants the stunting rate in the capital city to continue to decline. Now, the stunting rate in Jakarta is 14 percent.

Heru admitted that the government continues to run various programs. However, he also asked the public to take preventive measures. That is, starting from pregnant women who maintain the health condition of themselves and their prospective babies.

This was said by Heru after holding a leadership meeting with the ranks of the DKI Provincial Government and was attended by Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

"Information from the Health Service, there are approximately 140 thousand pregnant women. I urge pregnant women not to be lazy, consistently to check their pregnancy at the puskesmas, to the posyandu," said Heru at DKI Jakarta City Hall, Wednesday, February 1.

When health care facilities know the condition of pregnant women based on the results of the examination, the government can find out the targets of people who need to receive assistance in improving their nutrition.

"Pregnant women must be disciplined, eat discipline, take care of their health, have to check regularly, so that we can control. Remember, the easiest and cheapest prevention (stunting) is in the position when the mother is pregnant," he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health (Menkes) Budi Gunadi Sadikin asked the DKI Provincial Government to reduce stunting in Jakarta at a figure that is less than Jokowi's target, which is 5 percent, such as conditions in other developed countries.

"I came to Mr. Gub. (The stunting rate) of developed countries is below 5 (percent) because DKI is now 14 (percent). Let's give gifts to the President. Earlier, we discussed how we can give examples of one province in Indonesia, which is the same as the developed country. stunting level, and Mr. Governor committed," said Budi at DKI Jakarta City Hall, Wednesday, February 1.

Budi said the first step taken by the government to effectively reduce stunting in Jakarta was to match the data on pregnant women and babies by name by address belonging to the Ministry of Health, the DKI Provincial Government, and the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN).

"We have agreed, number one tidy up the data. So the data must be the same by name by address between data from the Ministry of Health, Governor's data, and BKKBN data. We have agreed that it will be equalized within a week," said Budi.

After the data is matched, the Ministry of Health and the DKI Provincial Government will determine priority programs to intervene in reducing stunting targeting groups of pregnant women and babies.

"We focus on two groups, pregnant women because of the highest risk before giving birth, and a group of babies 6-24 months because there they need additional food outside of breast milk whose needs are specific," he explained.