Ministry: Free Nutritious Meals Programme Must Strengthen Local Stunting Prevention Ecosystem

Yogyakarta (ANTARA) - The Secretary of the Ministry of Population and Family Development (Sesmendukbangga) and Secretary of the National Family Planning Coordinating Board (BKKBN), Budi Setiyono, stated that the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) programme must strengthen the stunting prevention ecosystem in the regions and should not necessitate the creation of new systems to handle growth failure in toddlers.

According to him, the programme should reinforce the service ecosystem that has been established by integrated health posts (posyandu), Family Assistance Teams (TPK), midwives, community health centres (puskesmas), and community leaders.

“The existence of the MBG can actually perfect that ecosystem. What needs to be optimised is the menu, governance, time management, and inter-sectoral communication patterns,” he said during a discussion with the Family Assistance Teams (TPK) to commemorate the 33rd National Family Day (Harganas) in DI Yogyakarta on Sunday.

“As you may have heard, they work voluntarily, motivated by mutual assistance and their duties as TPK members, so any incentives would serve more as an additional stimulus. Currently, due to budget constraints, there may not be significant changes regarding the allocation of distribution costs,” he explained.

He noted that with the ecosystem existing prior to the MBG, there have been no dangerous incidents regarding the quality of food distribution. Therefore, the introduction of the MBG, particularly for the target group of pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and toddlers (3B), can strengthen the stunting prevention ecosystem.

“There must be cross-sectoral synergy in handling stunting. The existing best practices for services (from pregnant women to toddlers) in the regions have proven to be effective; therefore, we need to provide direction for evaluating the implementation of the MBG without eliminating the role of the existing service system,” said Budi.