Ministry: Free Nutritious Meal Programme Improvements Must Align with Stunting Reduction

The Ministry of Population and Family Development (Kemendukbangga)/BKKBN has stated that improvements to the governance of the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) Programme should be aligned with stunting reduction policies. This was conveyed by Secretary of Kemendukbangga/Principal Secretary of BKKBN Budi Setiyono when confirmed from Jakarta on Friday, in support of the government’s policy which is currently thoroughly improving this priority programme for enhancing national nutritional quality. “I hope the National Nutrition Agency (BGN) can support increased programme effectiveness in the future. One of the main recommendations is the importance of considering and accommodating various inputs and recommendations originating from across ministries and agencies related to the formulation and implementation of stunting reduction policies,” said Budi. Therefore, all recommendations submitted through cross-sector coordination forums need to be taken into consideration in the decision-making process so that the resulting policies become more comprehensive and implementable. “BGN also needs to strengthen cooperation and coordination more intensively with all ministries and agencies linked to the accelerated stunting reduction programme. This strengthening of coordination is necessary to ensure policy alignment, programme integration, and optimisation of available resource utilisation,” he said. Thus, he continued, the MBG Programme can provide greater benefits to the community and contribute significantly to accelerating the reduction of stunting prevalence. Meanwhile, Minister of Population and Family Development/Head of BKKBN, Wihaji, stated that his party continues to strengthen the structuring of the MBG Programme for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers (3B) with the support of Family Assistance Teams (TPK). “Today, the 3B group receiving benefits has reached 9.9 million individuals, consisting of 911,000 pregnant women, 2.2 million breastfeeding mothers, and around 6 million toddlers. This is an important achievement in efforts to strengthen nutritional interventions for the groups most in need,” he said. Wihaji conveyed that this coverage of beneficiaries is inseparable from the support of more than 122,000 TPK. He explained that the TPK have so far assisted in the direct distribution of MBG to the 3B targets and ensured that the food provided is truly consumed by the beneficiaries in accordance with its nutritional value.