EU-ABC: Multi-Party Collaboration Key to Success of Free Nutritious Meal Programme
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Collaboration between the government, private sector, academia, and civil society is considered a vital factor in ensuring the success of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme and various efforts to improve nutritional security in Indonesia.
This view emerged during the launch of the latest ASEAN health report published by the EU-ASEAN Business Council in Jakarta on Tuesday (30/6).
Executive Director of EU-ABC, Chris Humphrey, stated that Indonesia’s various initiatives in the fields of nutrition and public health, including the MBG programme and stunting reduction efforts, demonstrate the correct policy direction.
“The main challenge now is to ensure that the implementation of these various programmes can run effectively on a large scale. As Indonesia takes steps to execute ambitious nutritional initiatives such as the MBG, multi-stakeholder collaboration will be key to translating policy ambitions into measurable results,” he said in a statement received in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The report, titled “Health, Nutrition & Lifestyle: Boosting ASEAN’s Health and Economic Resilience Through a Life-Course Framework”, emphasises the importance of a life-course approach in strengthening the health and economic resilience of the region.
The report identifies three main pillars: strengthening nutritional security, implementing healthy lifestyles, and enhancing self-care practices as the foundation for developing a healthy and productive human resource base.
Three Pillars
Furthermore, the report positions preventive health as a strategic investment that can improve the quality of life, reduce the burden of healthcare financing, increase labour productivity, and strengthen the economic competitiveness of the region.
Discussions within the forum also highlighted the importance of shifting the approach from food security to nutrition security, which involves ensuring that food is not only available but also safe, nutritious, affordable, and accessible to the public.
Meanwhile, a representative from the Directorate of Non-Communicable Disease Prevention and Control at the Ministry of Health, Sri Ridha Hasanable, emphasised that improving public health and economic growth can go hand in hand.
“If we share the same public health goals, there is always room for collaboration. We do not view economic growth and public health as two conflicting entities,” she said.