JakartaPost-Aug 23, 2022
The government has listed interventions to reduce stunting as one of the spending priorities in the budget allocated for the health sector in 2023, in a bid to achieve the country’s target of reducing stunting prevalence to 14 percent in 2024. Authorities have set aside Rp 169.8 trillion (US$11.3 billion) for non-COVID-19 related programs in the health sector in the 2023 state budget, almost 50 percent higher than those of during pre-pandemic times. This includes stunting-reduction programs, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani said recently, without revealing how much money would go to the campaign. During his annual speech at the House of Representatives last week, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said that the government would strengthen collaboration across various institutions to accelerate nationwide campaigns on childhood-stunting reduction. Jokowi has previously appointed the National Population and Planning Agency (BKKBN) to serve as the bridge between government agencies and ministries, with the aim of fast-tracking the implementation of programs on the ground. To tackle Indonesia’s persistent stunting problem, the government issued in 2017 the National Strategy to Accelerate Stunting Prevention (Stranas Stunting), distributing around $14.6 billion to converge health, nutrition and early-childhood interventions. Since then, childhood stunting prevalence has decreased from 30.8 percent in 2018 to 24.4 percent last year, according to the 2021 Indonesia Nutrition Status Survey (SSGI). Despite the decrease, a 2021 World Health Organization study shows that Indonesia’s stunting prevalence is still higher than the global average of 21.9 percent. It is also relatively higher than neighboring countries such as Vietnam (23 percent), Malaysia (17 percent), Thailand (16 percent) and Singapore (4 percent). Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/paper/2022/08/22/govt-to-accelerate-fight-against-childhood-stunting.html
