Synergy Between Stakeholders Needed to Tackle Stunting: VP

Vice President Ma’ruf Amin (Photo: Document of Vice President Secretariat)

Integration of various programs and synergy between ministries/government agencies is important to reduce stunting cases throughout the country, Vice President Ma’ruf Amin has said.

“Synergy is a word that is easy to say, but is not easy to manifest. It needs hard work from all of us to make it happen. Every government agency has been asked to eliminate “sectoral egos” because synergy requires cooperation between stakeholders,” the Vice President said at the 2020 National Technical Coordination Meeting for the Acceleration of Stunting Prevention on Wednesday (21/10) in Jakarta.

On that occasion, Vice President Ma’ruf emphasized that synergy must be carried out from the Central Government level, provincial level, district/city levels to village level.

“The first step is situation analysis and program mapping to determine the real data of stunting, as well as programs related to stunting cases that have been found or have not been found in certain areas. By doing so, overlaps between programs can be avoided and programs that are needed but not yet available can be identified,” he said.

The VP also emphasized that stunting must be prevented at all cost to avoid the growing number of a weak generation.

“Weak in terms of health, education, and economy. Therefore, let me stress once again that together we must prevent stunting,” he said.

Apart from the Central Government, the Vice President also called on each regional head to have a strong commitment to accelerate prevention of stunting.

“With a strong commitment from the regional heads, stunting prevention can be set as a priority program for the regional development by utilizing all the necessary resources to prevent stunting,” he said.

The Vice President also appealed to the regional governments to make innovative efforts to ensure that health services are carried out with health protocols, so that the prevalence of stunting will not increase.

“We must not let the COVID-19 pandemic increases the number of children suffering from stunting in the next few years,” he said. (KIP SETWAPRES / UN)

Translated by: Estu Widyamurti
Reviewed by: M. Ersan Pamungkas