I have been teaching and researching community nutrition for more\nthan twenty years. During that time, I have seen how nutrition issues\noften only attract attention when stunting rates rise or cases of\nmalnutrition emerge. Therefore, when the state finally placed nutrition\non the national agenda, I naturally welcomed it with optimism.<\/p>\n
However, that excitement did not completely put me at ease. One thing\ncontinues to trouble my mind: we might be looking at the nutrition\nproblem in a way that is too simplistic.<\/p>\n
Lately, public attention has been heavily focused on the Nutrition\nFulfilment Service Units (SPPG). Various institutions are being\nencouraged to manage them, from foundations and community organisations\nto universities and the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI) and\nPolice. A debate has ensued: who is most suitable to manage the\nkitchens, who is the most prepared, and who is the most trusted.<\/p>\n
In my view, this debate is important, but it does not touch on the\nreal issue.<\/p>\n
In class, I often remind students that nutritional status is the\nresult of a system. Therefore, whenever I hear nutrition being narrowed\ndown to a matter of food distribution, I always feel something is\nmissing from our perspective. Behind a plate of food is a mother who may\nhave been anaemic since before pregnancy. There is a family struggling\nto afford nutritious food. There is poor sanitation, limited clean\nwater, low education levels, and an environment that does not support\nchild development.<\/p>\n
Perhaps it is because of my background as a nutrition lecturer,\naccustomed to seeing a programme\u2019s success by its impact rather than by\nthe number of activities carried out. Kitchens can be added, millions of\nportions of food can be distributed, but our work is not finished if\nmany pregnant women remain anaemic and children are still not growing\noptimally. Ultimately, the goal is not the amount of food distributed,\nbut the quality of human life.<\/p>\n
I worry when the conversation about nutrition slowly shifts into a\nconversation about projects. What is widely discussed is no longer how\nto improve the community\u2019s nutritional status, but who builds the\nkitchens, who manages the budget, and who implements the programme. As\nan academic, I feel this shift should be watched closely. Nutrition\nscience ends up losing its space, replaced by administrative and project\nlogic.<\/p>\n
The Village Cooperative Red and White programme, for instance, is\nprojected to involve massive financing. The same applies to various\ninitiatives related to the SPPG. The larger the budget managed, the\ngreater the responsibility that comes with it. Unfortunately, our\nexperience shows that large budgets are almost always followed by public\nconcerns over governance.<\/p>\n
Public suspicion does not arise without reason. Indonesia still faces\nserious problems in financial governance. Annual reports from Indonesia\nCorruption Watch and the Audit Board of Indonesia show that budget\nirregularities remain an unresolved issue. In such a situation, it is\nonly natural that any trillion-rupiah project invites questions from the\npublic.<\/p>\n
I do not wish to get caught up in debating the rightness or wrongness\nof a particular case. What is far more important is to learn that any\nlarge-scale programme must be built on strong governance. When the scope\nof budget management widens, the opportunity for irregularities also\ngrows if the oversight system is inadequate.<\/p>\n
As an academic, I also see the need to maintain the independence of\nuniversities. Higher education institutions can certainly contribute\nthrough research, programme evaluation, local food innovation, and the\ndevelopment of more effective nutrition intervention models. However, I\ndisagree with the idea of campuses becoming too deeply involved in\nproject management.<\/p>\n
I also hope that universities do not lose their identity. Their\ngreatest contribution lies not in their ability to manage kitchens, but\nin their courage to test policies with scientific evidence. Campuses\nmust remain spaces that are free to ask questions, free to criticise,\nand free to present findings, even if the results are not always\npleasing to the government.<\/p>\n
In Islam, fulfilling the basic needs of the people is a mandate of\nthe state. Food is not merely an economic commodity, let alone a project\nmeasured by the size of budget absorption. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)\nreminded us that every leader is a guardian and will be held accountable\nfor their people. This message is simple yet profound. The state\u2019s\npresence is not enough through programmes alone; it must ensure that\nthese programmes truly bring about public welfare.<\/p>\n
Therefore, I hope the direction of national nutrition policy does not\nstop at building kitchens or distributing food. We need a more\ncomprehensive approach. Nutrition interventions must go hand in hand\nwith improving maternal health, strengthening primary healthcare\nservices, providing clean water and sanitation, offering social\nprotection for poor families, delivering nutrition education, and\nstrengthening food security based on local potential.<\/p>\n
All of this is certainly not as easy as building a kitchen. The\nresults also cannot be seen in a matter of months. But that is precisely\nthe great task of nutrition development. Changing nutritional status\nalways requires patient, consistent, and science-based work.<\/p>\n
I believe the state has good intentions to improve the quality of\npublic nutrition. But good intentions alone are not enough. A good\nprogramme must be supported by sound policies, clean governance, and the\ncourage to be continuously evaluated.<\/p>\n
In the end, our goal is not to build as many kitchens as possible.\nOur goal is to build a healthy generation. Nutrition speaks about the\nwhole human being\u2014about maternal health, about children who grow\noptimally, and about a society that is healthy and productive.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/do-not-oversimplify-nutrition-1784481615", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }