Acting Governor Heru Receives Appreciation from Health Minister in Handling Stunting in Jakarta

The Jakarta Provincial Government continues to take concrete steps to eradicate extreme poverty and stunting among children under five.

Around 9,000 have been successfully intervened

This effort is carried out through synergy with various parties, including the central government, namely the Ministry of Health. Like today, Tuesday (10/31), Jakarta Acting Governor, Heru Budi Hartono was present at the launch of the Healthy Children Movement: Together to Prevent Stunting which was initiated by the Ministry of Health.

This movement was launched to increase cross-sector synergy and provide a platform that invites community participation in preventing stunting from an early age. This movement started in Jakarta and would continue in other provinces. That is carried out by providing local support for the provision of additional food (PMT) to children with nutritional problems who have been registered.

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Jakarta Acting Governor, Heru Budi Hartono, who was present at the launch of the Healthy Children's Movement, said that his party had taken many actions together with the Ministry of Health to speed up the handling of stunting.

"The number of stunted toddlers in Jakarta is around 20,000, and around 9,000 have been successfully intervened. And this number will continue to grow," he expressed, at Utama RPTRA, Cengkareng Barat, West Jakarta.

Then he gave examples of various efforts that had been made. They were in the form of providing additional food for toddlers and educating parents to pay attention to nutrition for pregnant women and toddlers.

"At Posyandu, we provide additional food, at the Social Agency, additional food activities are also provided at each RPTRA. The Jakarta Government is trying to prevent the child from being categorized as stunting. Thank you because the Healthy Children Movement adds power, thus people are aware of (the dangers of) stunting," he explained, in the Jakarta Government's press release.

The Jakarta Government's seriousness in handling stunting cases received appreciation from the Health Minister, Budi Gunadi Sadikin. He assessed, the increase in stunting data in Jakarta was not due to less than optimal handling, in fact because the Jakarta Government was actively intervening with toddlers, thus they were free from stunting.

"The Governor is the one who is most diligent in looking for stunted children. So, Jakarta continues to rise (stunting data), it's not bad. Because many people from other areas moved to Jakarta, they were looked after by the Governor," he explained.

The Healthy Children Movement was launched by the Ministry of Health together with the Jakarta Government, as well as the Indonesian Good Seed Foundation and the Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association. Not only providing local PMT, this movement also provides nutrition and health education which aims to build children's eating preferences, stimulate the local economy of the community, ensure the continuity of activities, and facilitate the distribution of PMT, thus it is right on target.