President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has asked Sumedang district head Dony Ahmad Munir to visit other regions and disseminate information about his administration’s successful efforts to handle stunting by implementing the electronic-based governance system (SPBE).
This information was conveyed by Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin at a press conference at Merdeka Palace here on Monday after a meeting on the acceleration of stunting handling using SPBE, which was chaired by the President.
According to the minister, Sumedang was one of the districts that implemented the SPBE well and used it as a database for reducing stunting.
“Thus, the district head was asked to disseminate about what his party had implemented in Sumedang,” he said.
The Sumedang district government succeeded in building its SPBE by mobilizing human resources, developing business processes, as well as integrating the electronic data system.
“Thus, not only stunting, the district government has also succeeded in improving the poverty reduction program and the permit issuance program,” Sadikin highlighted.
President Widodo has asked the Health Ministry and the Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform Ministry (Kemenpan-RB) to ensure that all regional governments implement the SPBE for the handling of stunting, he added.
He has also directed that efforts to expedite the handling of stunting be coordinated with Vice President Ma’ruf Amin; Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Culture Muhadjir Effendy; and head of the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) Hasto Wardoyo.
About 20–50 districts/cities, which are considered to have adequate implementation of SPBE but have a high stunting rate, will be provided assistance to emulate the stunting reduction program implemented by the Sumedang district government.
“In fact, Mr. President has directed the district head (of Sumedang) to directly visit the (chosen) regions to help the district heads and mayors (of the chosen regions) to immediately emulate his (Sumedang district head’s) success,” the minister informed.
Munir informed that in early 2022, the stunting prevalence rate in the district was 32.2 percent.
However, thanks to the implementation of the Integrated Stunting Management Information System (SIMPATI), the prevalence fell to 8.2 percent as of August 2022.
According to the Indonesian Toddler Nutrition Status Survey (SSGBI), in 2021, the national stunting prevalence rate was 24.4 percent. This prompted President Widodo to set the target of bringing down the prevalence rate to 14 percent by 2024.
Source: Antara News