PORTALJABAR, BANDUNG CITY - The first thousand days of a baby's life are very important in efforts to prevent stunting. Therefore, the West Java National Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) together with other stakeholders, is focusing on upstream prevention in accelerating the reduction of stunting prevalence in West Java.

According to the Head of the West Java BKKBN Representative, Fajar Supriadi Sentosa, handling stunting prevention from upstream starts from pre-marriage of parents, up to babies aged 2 years.

"To handle the prevention of stunting from upstream, the West Java BKKBN has formed a Family Assistance Team or TPK numbering around 37 thousand teams, with a total of 11,552 members," he said at the West Java BKKBN halalbihalal event as well as Promotion of the Acceleration of Stunting Reduction in West Java, at the BKKBN Office West Java, Jl. Surapati Bandung City, Monday (22/4/2024).

Fajar explained that the TPK was tasked with providing assistance starting from prospective brides (catin), pregnant women, mothers giving birth to parenting patterns for children up to 6 months of age.

"The TPK guides Catin, pregnant women, mothers giving birth to ensure exclusive breastfeeding until the baby is at least 6 months old. However, because the number of TPK is still insufficient, the assistance is not optimal," he explained.

Therefore, efforts to prevent stunting require collaboration from all parties, including local governments from provinces to city districts.

"Regional government support is very important and decisive in terms of policy and budget support. I will give the example of Cianjur Regency in reducing the stunting rate quite successfully because of the support of the regional government, so that currently the prevalence of stunting in Cianjur is below 14 percent," he said.

Overall, based on data from the 2022 Indonesian Health Survey (SKI) in West Java, the prevalence of stunting in West Java fell by 4 percent. Fajar hopes that from the 2023 SKI survey data which will be out in mid-2024, the stunting rate in West Java can reach the limit set by the President, namely 14 percent in 2024, or even lower.

On the same occasion, the West Java BKKBN distributed basic necessities to 10 representatives of families vulnerable to stunting in Bandung City, among which members of Commission IX DPR RI Nety Prasetyani Heryawan, who was also present at the event. (Even)