Health Minister Meets New BGN Leadership to Discuss Free Nutritious Meal Programme

Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin received the new leadership of the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) at his office in Rasuna Said, South Jakarta, on Tuesday, 9 June 2026. BGN Head Nanik Sudaryati Deyang and her two deputies, Agustina Arumsari and Major General TNI Trenggono, attended the meeting. Budi said that during the meeting, the Ministry of Health discussed several matters, particularly regarding new steps to be taken by the new BGN leadership concerning the free nutritious meal programme (MBG). Budi stated that the Ministry of Health would support four steps prepared by the BGN to reorganise the implementation of the MBG programme. “I fully support and appreciate the steps that have been established by the new BGN leadership,” Budi said in a written statement. During the approximately one-hour meeting, Nanik outlined four policies to be pursued by the BGN to improve the implementation of the MBG programme. The four steps include refocusing the target beneficiaries, a moratorium on building new kitchens, improving existing operational kitchens, and formulating a new implementation scheme for MBG in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost (3T) regions. Nanik stated that one of the main changes is directing the programme’s beneficiaries to what is referred to as the 3B group, namely pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers. Therefore, the BGN requires support from the Ministry of Health, especially in providing data and formulating programmes related to maternal and child health. “The future target beneficiaries of MBG are the 3B group, which is part of the Ministry of Health’s domain,” Nanik said. Responding to this need, Budi stated his readiness to deploy child health and nutrition experts from the Ministry of Health to assist the BGN in running the programme. He invited the BGN to determine the experts needed. “Please, whoever is selected, we will prepare the best,” Budi said. The meeting also served as an introductory event for the new BGN leadership after the government reshuffled the agency’s leadership structure. Nanik said the leadership pattern at BGN will now be carried out in a collective collegial manner, with every strategic decision discussed together with the two deputy heads.