Jakarta (ANTARA) – Director of family economic empowerment at the National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), Ahmad Taufik, has said that efforts to eradicate stunting will require strong commitment from Indonesian families.
“With our philosophy, we want to encourage Indonesian families to prevent stunting massively,” he said at a webinar entitled “National Family Day, Let’s Prevent Stunting to Make Families Free from Stunting,” which was accessed from here on Friday.
He invited Indonesian families to work together to prevent stunting using their own methods, patterns, and strategies.
The prevalence of stunting in Indonesia is currently still high at 24.4 percent. However, there has been a fair decline from the previous figure of 27 percent.
The Indonesian government is targeting to reduce the stunting rate to 14 percent by 2024.
However, the target will not be easy to achieve, considering that 2024 is not far away.
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For that reason, the ranks of the BKKBN at the central, provincial, and regional levels are continuing to carry out activities that contribute to stunting reduction efforts, Taufik noted.
He said he expected the 29th year commemoration of National Family Day to encourage all parties, including families throughout the country, to work hand in hand to prevent child stunting and create a healthy, smart, and stunting-free generation.
Earlier, head of the BKKBN, Hasto Wardoyo, had said that the 29th National Family Day emphasized the culture of mutual cooperation in overcoming stunting.
“National Family Day this year will bring the elements of Pentahelix mutual cooperation, specifically the participation of the government, community, business world, academics, and the media,” Wardoyo noted in a written statement received here on June 29, 2022.
He said that National Family Day, which is celebrated every June 29, has infused a new spirit into his agency to improve the quality of families in Indonesia, especially through the culture of mutual cooperation that has become a noble value in the country.
Mutual cooperation has been implemented by connecting 34 representative offices of the provincial BKKBN with the homes of families at risk of stunting throughout Indonesia. Later, the BKKBN head will directly monitor and provide directions to the families visited.
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