Legislator requests addition of article on stunting management in draft regional regulation
Jakarta (ANTARA) - A member of the Jakarta DPRD from the Democrat-Perindo faction, Lazarus Simon Ishak, has requested that the Jakarta Provincial Government add a specific article regulating the measurable and integrated handling of stunting in the Draft Regional Regulation (Raperda) on the Local Health System.
He stated that stunting in Jakarta remains a serious issue, despite the capital city having the largest fiscal capacity in Indonesia.
Based on data from the 2024 Indonesia Nutrition Status Survey (SSGI), the prevalence of stunting in Jakarta reaches 17.2 percent, or around 143,601 affected toddlers.
“This figure certainly needs attention, especially as Jakarta positions itself as a global city and has a much larger fiscal capacity than many other regions,” said Lazarus at the Jakarta DPRD on Monday.
He also assessed that the Draft Regional Regulation on the Local Health System does not yet firmly regulate the obligations for organising community nutrition improvement and stunting prevention, as mandated by Law Number 17 of 2023 on Health and Presidential Regulation Number 72 of 2021.
Therefore, his faction proposes adding an article in the Health Efforts Chapter that includes monitoring the nutritional status of toddlers at all puskesmas, interventions for pregnant women with Chronic Energy Deficiency (KEK) and infants aged 0-23 months, strengthening Posyandu as the frontline for early detection, and coordination across regional government organisations through eight convergence actions.
“So far, Jakarta’s stunting figures have often fluctuated due to different measurement methods between SSGI, SKI, and EPPGBM. As a result, data comparisons between years are difficult, making interventions not on target,” said Ali.
The Democrat-Perindo faction also requests that the Provincial Government set a regional stunting prevalence target through a Governor’s Regulation and report it to the Jakarta DPRD every year, so that its handling is more measurable and can be monitored periodically.
Furthermore, Ali revealed that the Draft Regional Regulation also revokes three previous health regional regulations, namely Regional Regulation Number 6 of 2007, Regional Regulation Number 5 of 2008, and Regional Regulation Number 4 of 2009.
For this reason, he believes that the regulatory changes must be truly clear to avoid confusion in the implementation of health services in the field.