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Jokowi urges Indonesians to cut stunting to 14 percent in 2024
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President Joko Widodo greets local resident in Belawan, Medan, North Sumatra, on July 7. (Antara/Fransisco Carolio)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is calling on Indonesians to work hard and work together with the government to lower the stunting prevalence rate to 14 percent from 24.4 percent in the next two years.
Jokowi said that stunted children meant that Indonesia’s future generation would have difficulties competing with their peers from other countries.
“If our children are smart and bright, it will be easy for us to compete with them,” the President said in a speech marking National Family Day on Thursday in Medan, North Sumatra, on Thursday.
The Indonesia Nutrition Status Survey (SSGI) in 2021 shows that the stunting rate declined from 30.8 percent in 2018 to 24.4 percent in 2021 in the country’s 23 million children aged under five.
Jokowi said currently all countries were facing difficulties, with several nations in Africa and Asia facing food crises due to the Russo-Ukrainian war, and called on Indonesian families to use available space in their homes to plant and farm for daily food.
