Childhood Stunting

KOMPAS/WISNU WIDIANTORO

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (third left, rear) and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim (second left, rear) visit Posyandu Kenanga 2, an integrated community health post, at Tangkil 1 Elementary School on Wednesday (4/7/2018) in Tangkil village, Caringin district, Bogor regency, West Java. President Jokowi used the occasion to show the various approaches the government was taking to reduce childhood stunting throughout the country.

Nine million preschool-aged children in Indonesia suffer from stunted growth as a result of malnutrition. This issue must be dealt with because human resources is the most valuable resource.

Stunting in children under 5 with has been a challenge of many years in Indonesia’s development. Stunting affects almost 30 percent of children under 5 as a result of chronic malnutrition.

Concerns over childhood stunting were again raised following the visit of World Bank president Jim Yong Kim to Indonesia on Wednesday (4/7/2018). One of the goals of Kim’s visit is to discuss how to tackle stunting with the Indonesian government and to look at Indonesia’s achievements in the issue.

The issue is often ignored, as its impact is not immediate. Children under 5 who are shorter than the standard height for their can still pursue normal activities.

Many study show that stunted children have delayed brain development, which leads to low cognitive abilities and metabolism, as well as other developmental disorders. They suffer long-term developmental issues in their cognitive abilities and their academic records are poor. They are also highly vulnerable to disease. The condition also increases their risk of degenerative disease and makes them unable to compete with their peers. Nationally, it will lead to low productivity and poor competitive advantage.

Stunting in children is a sign of chronic malnutrition. It may be caused by the mother’s poor physical and reproductive health during pregnancy and after the baby is born, until the child reaches the age of 5.

Chronic malnutrition is an indication of a much wider problem than malnourishment, including poverty, access to information and education, behavioral issues and child marriage.

According to the Health Ministry, health issues contribute only 30 percent to childhood stunting. Other issues relate to food safety, clean water and sanitation, poverty, socioeconomics and education. Among the Health Ministry’s four priority programs for 2014-2019 are to reduce the prevalence of childhood stunting and to reduce the maternal and infant mortality rate.

From the many causes of stunting among children under 5, we believe that its prevalence will not decrease if the policy is merely to provide supplementary foods to pregnant women, to provide breast milk exclusively until the infant reaches the age of six months and to ensure that the infant receives sufficient nutrition until the age of 2, which is the golden period of childhood development.

Cross-sectoral programs should be developed, starting from providing maternity care staffers to ensuring clean water and sanitation, providing information to would-be mothers, and to improving access to nutritional foods and education.

We have the posyandu (integrated health service post) in the frontlines to tackle chronic nutrition and childhood stunting. The central government provides the directives and policies, and the regional head determines the success in reducing the number of stunted children.