T

he World Bank and its Indonesian health sector partners called for renewed strategies with a local focus to get the nation’s ongoing stunting eradication drive back on track.

The idea was discussed during the launch of the book Aiming High: Indonesia’s Ambition to Reduce Stunting on Wednesday.

Claudia Rokx from World Bank, one of the authors of the book, said Indonesia had for years implemented programs to improve the key drivers of stunting prevention: access to adequate care, health care, clean environment and nutritious food.

She said many districts were improving, but some were not.

The new strategy will gradually cover 514 cities and regencies up to 2021. But this year, the government is focusing on 100 regions with high stunting prevalence.

Claudia suggested revamping the country’s integrated community health posts (Puskesmas), the backbone of Indonesia’s primary health care for pregnant women, mothers and children, which had waned due to shortages in funds and staff.

She also suggested utilizing Human Development Workers — designated local people to support the stunting prevention program at a local level — to reach every woman and child. In addition to direct intervention, Claudia said the involvement of stakeholders at all levels was a must.

“Everyone takes responsibility together to make sure that all the services could be provided for children to grow up healthy.”

Bambang Widianto, executive secretary for the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K), also stressed the need to improve cooperation among all elements in providing services for mothers and children at the local level.

The government launched last year the National Strategy to Accelerate Stunting Prevention program, which commits 22 ministries to decreasing the nation’s stunting rate through better coordination across national, regional and local governments.

The World Health Organization has stipulated that the stunting rate of any participating country must be below 20 percent. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s average prevalence of stunting stands at 29.6 percent, according to the 2017 Monitoring of Nutritional Status report published by the Health Ministry.

Only Bali and Yogyakarta recorded a lower prevalence score at 19.1 and 19.8 percent, respectively. East Nusa Tenggara has the highest stunting prevalence at 40.3 percent, followed by West Sulawesi and Central Kalimantan with 40 percent and 39 percent, respectively.

In 2015, the government included targets in its Medium-Term Development Plan (RJPMN) for 2015 to 2019 to reduce stunting to 28 percent in 2019 .

Claudia pointed out that the projected rate of stunting in Indonesia would decrease to 22 percent in 2022 if the new strategy was fully implemented.

Furthermore, Rodrigo A. Chaves, World Bank country director for Indonesia and Timor Leste, said the institution indicated that more than 2 million Indonesian children under the age of two could be saved from potential stunting in the next three to four years if the new strategy was implemented effectively.

“Every US dollar well spent on reducing stunting would generate US$48 in economic return,” he added.

World Bank, Indonesia’s partner in the campaign, is providing a loan of up to $400 million
for four years, as the program aligns with improving human capital, one of the institution’s initiatives.

The government is allocating around Rp 60 trillion ($4.04 billion) from the state budget to cover the stunting prevention program, which focuses on the first 1,000 days of a person’s life.

“We spend a lot of money, it’s impossible for the stunting rate not to decrease,” Bambang said. (sau)