DPR: Free Nutritious Meal Programme Success Must Be Measured with Valid Indicators

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Chairman of Commission IX of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), Charles Honoris, has stated that the success of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) Programme must be measured using valid indicators. He explained that Indonesia already possesses instruments specifically designed to measure the nutritional status of the population, namely the Indonesian Health Survey (SKI) and the Indonesian Nutritional Status Survey (SSGI), which have long been used as the primary reference by the Ministry of Health. “Therefore, if the government wishes to formulate or evaluate national nutrition improvement policies, the main reference should use indicators derived from these surveys, not indicators that do not directly measure nutritional status,” he said in Jakarta on Thursday. Charles emphasised that the MBG Programme is quite strategic with a very large budget. Consequently, all planning, implementation, and evaluation must be based on accurate data and indicators so that its benefits can be objectively measured. “The Ministry of Health needs to openly explain the indicators and methodology used to produce such conclusions, because the National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas) is fundamentally a household socio-economic survey, not a survey designed to measure the nutritional status of the population directly,” he stated. He stressed that public policy must be built on appropriate indicators, because if the diagnosis is wrong, the therapy is also potentially wrong. “This is also important to clarify the objectives of the MBG Programme. If the main goal of MBG is to improve the nutritional status of the community, then its success must be measured using valid nutritional status indicators, such as reductions in stunting, wasting, underweight, anaemia, and other indicators measured through the SKI and SSGI. A programme of this magnitude cannot be evaluated solely based on assumptions or indicators that do not directly measure nutritional status,” he said. “The public has the right to know clearly what the actual objectives of the MBG Programme are. The programme’s goals must not keep shifting to follow changing narratives,” he added. Charles continued that a programme with a budget of hundreds of trillions of rupiah must have clear targets, appropriate indicators, and be scientifically and objectively evaluable. “Without that, it will be difficult to ascertain whether state funds are truly resulting in improved public nutrition or merely expanding the coverage of food provision,” said Charles Honoris.