Jayawijaya – Vice Minister of Home Affairs Ribka Haluk reiterated the dangers of stunting and malnutrition in children and pregnant women. Stunting, she said, can reduce the quality of human resources (HR) in the future, especially in terms of physical growth, cognitive development, and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) or intellectual intelligence.
“Based on existing studies, children who experience stunting have an average IQ 11 points lower than children with good nutrition,” she said during a visit to YPPGI Napua Elementary School, Jayawijaya Regency, Papua Mountains on Monday (11/18/2024). This visit is part of a series of Ribka’s working visits (kunker) to Papua Mountains.
Ribka also asked all parties to pay serious attention to this problem. This is to prevent long-term impacts on the health and development of children.
According to the 2023 Indonesian Health Survey (SKI) data, the prevalence of stunting in Indonesia still reaches 21.5 percent, while the Chronic Energy Deficiency (CED) rate in pregnant women reaches 16.9 percent. CED is a condition of long-term energy deficiency in pregnant women, which has the potential to endanger the health of the mother and fetus. Thus, this problem requires serious handling.
“If not handled immediately, this condition can hamper our efforts to create a healthy, intelligent generation, and at the same time can worsen socio-economic [conditions] in Indonesian society, and more specifically in the Papua Mountains Province,” he said.
On that occasion, Ribka also highlighted the importance of the Asta Cita program initiated by President Prabowo Subianto, to realize a sovereign, prosperous, just, and prosperous Indonesia. This program includes eight main ideals that must be implemented by all regional governments (Pemda) from Sabang to Merauke.
One of the points in Asta Cita is the provision of free nutritious food to children, pregnant women, and vulnerable groups. He hopes that this free nutritious food program can accelerate access to basic services and support the development of superior and competitive human resources.