President Jokowi Strengthens Stunt Avoidance and Household Resilience in the Country

The National Population and Family Planning Department have been charged by President Joko Widodo with handling stunt avoidance. The Head of State noticed that the BKKBN has been named to lead attempts to minimize stunting.

The stunting rate in Indonesia, estimated at 37 percent five years ago, decreased in 2019 to 27.6 percent. The President recalled that the national aim of reducing the incidence of stunting by 2024 was set at 14%.

If the program is to be handled optimally on the ground, the objective would not be difficult to accomplish, he stressed. The BKKBN would force ministries and agencies to consolidate the spending and reduce the incidence of stunting services. Consequently, Jokowi believed that after the stunting rate hit 27.6 percent in 2019 and was expected to escalate in the midst of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, any stakeholder must pay serious attention.

Another thing, the President provided orders to the National Population and Family Planning Board extension service staff to step up public information drives highlighting the value of improving household resilience. To this end, Jokowi found that in Indonesian homes, the BKKBN did not deal exclusively with issues related to the number of children and the length of the birth interval, or the time between two successive live births.

Therefore, when leading and encouraging various groups of populations, the BKKBN should apply different techniques, the president told participants of a coordination meeting on the Cooperation Program of the Family Planning Institution (Bangga Kencana).

In contrast, young married couples who are used to the digital lifestyle are one of the targeted categories of BKKBN’s extension service staff. The BKKBN is also able to produce and exchange content that is well-received and known in societies by its focused segments, he pointed out.

He emphasized that in their advice and neighborhood empowerment initiative, For this reason, BKKBN extension service staff should also prioritize the foundations of household satisfaction, such as controlling diet, preserving proper sanitation, ensuring good protection of the environment, and obtaining access to education.

Along with this, President Jokowi thanked the BKKBN staff at the meeting for their commitment to leading and inspiring rural communities around the world. President Jokowi also charged the BKKBN at the meeting with introducing exceptional initiatives to will the stunting rate in Indonesia, from 27.9 percent in 2019 to 14 percent in 2024.