Stunting in Tapin now stands at 14.5 percent

Rantau, S Kalimantan (ANTARA) - The Health Agency in Tapin District, South Kalimantan Province, stated that now stunting prevalance of the district stood at 14.5 percent.

Head of the agency Alfian Yusuf here on Wednesday said that the stunting prevalence has declined significantly by 19 percent compared to last year.

"The Indonesian Nutrition Status Survey (SSGI) in 2022 found that the stunting prevalance in Tapin has declined by 19 percent, from 33.5 percent (in 2021) to 14.5 percent," said Alfian Yusuf here on Wednesday.

The percentage, he said, is calculated from 10,000 toddlers. If counted 14.5 percent then the number of toddlers with stunting is in the range of 1,100.

"Tapin is now has the lowest prevalance of stunting in South Kalimantan. Only a little bit for us to reach the national target, which is 14 percent in 2024," he pointed out.

The regional government's policy to reduce stunting, he acknowledged, was serious and successful.

"For example, the previous year's budget for handling stunting was IDR1 billion, now (2023) it is IDR1.2 billion," he expounded.

This year, he said, his agency also adds 75 stunting focus location from the previous year, so now there are 100 focus location in Tapin.

"All stakeholders are involved in handling stunting," he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin stated that the number of stunting cases in children in Indonesia fell to 21.6 percent according to the results of the 2022 SSGI.

"I report that the result of the case numbers of 2022 SSGI fell, from 24.4 percent in 2021 to 21.6 percent," Sadikin stated during the 2023 National Work Meeting of the Proud Kencana Program and Acceleration of Stunting Reduction in Jakarta, Wednesday.

The minister highlighted that several provinces -- South Sumatra, North Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, and Riau -- had succeeded in reducing the number of stunting cases by five percent from 2021 to 2022.

During that period, the number of stunting cases decreased, from 24.8 percent to 18.6 percent in South Sumatra, from 27.5 percent to 22.1 percent in North Kalimantan, from 30 percent to 24.6 percent in South Kalimantan, and from 22.3 percent to 17 percent in Riau.