Empowering Puskesos in Preventing and Managing Stunting

JAKARTA (23 September 2021) - Ministry of Social Affairs concerned on handling and preventing stunting in Indonesia. This can be done by empowering Social Welfare Centers or Pusat Kesejahteraan Sosial (Puskesos) at the village/kelurahan level to be involved in handling and preventing stunting.

Stunting cases in Indonesia are currently one of the problems that become the national highlighted and must be solved together. Handling stunting cases must be carried out in synergy between Ministries/Institutions. Handling and preventing stunting requires an integrated nutrition intervention, which requires massive socialization and education related to stunting. Puskesos located in village/kelurahan as an integrated service institution which is able to accommodate social issues or complaints at the village/kelurahan level. So that the empowerment of the Puskesos seems to be capable of carrying out integrated interventions in terms of providing education to the village/kelurahan community regarding stunting.

Director General of Social Empowerment Edi Suharto accompanied by Director of PSPKKM Serimika BR Karo was present at the signing of the cooperation agreement ‘Empowerment Strategy of Social Welfare Centers in Preventing and Handling Stunting' which was held virtually. The signing process was carried out by the Director General of Social Empowerment Edi Suharto as a party from the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the Acting Director General of Public Health at the Ministry of Health Kartini Rustandi as a party from the Ministry of Health.

The existence of the cooperation agreement is expected to facilitate the coordination and collaboration in the prevention and handling stunting, especially to obtain data on stunting complaints and the Ministry of Health can help to provide capacity building for Puskesos’ human resources. It can be through collaboration between Puskesos and Puskesmas. In addition, the data on stunting families can be included in empowerment through the Social Entrepreneurship Program (ProKUS) based on the results of the assessment.

The Puskesos institution located in the village/kelurahan allows the government to directly serve the community. Puskesos duties include recording public complaints, providing services, providing referrals, and providing support for the verification of the Integrated Social Welfare Data (DTKS). Puskesos will bridge in terms of Communication, Information, and Education (KIE) to the community regarding stunting.

Puskesos already exist in 150 regencies/cities and 7,354 villages/kelurahan, so it is very strategic to be able to provide IEC to the community when the community submits their complaints. Even in 2021, there will be growth of Puskesos in 280 regencies/cities and 560 villages/kelurahan. In 2022, it is targeted that all regencies/cities in Indonesia, namely 514 regencies/cities, will carry out the growth of Puskesos.

"It's not only the Ministry of Health that handles stunting. But all Ministries/Institutions can work together to prevent stunting. In order to make it easy to remember, the branding that we adopt is Puskesos Semesta which stands for Center for Social Welfare Synergy for Handling Stunting," explained Serimika.

Director of PSPKKM Serimika BR Karo and his team have tested the Puskesos empowerment strategy in preventing and handling stunting. The trial was carried out in 2 locations, namely Tapos Village, Depok City and Karang Tengah Village, Bogor Regency. The location was chosen because according to data in the field, stunting cases in these 2 locations were still quite high.

The pilot activity was attended by facilitators, back office, and front office from several villages/kelurahan in nearby areas, the Ministry of Social Health Center team, along with resource persons from the Tanoto Foundation and Widyaiswara Education and Training Center of the Ministry of Social Affairs who provided lessons regarding the role of Puskesos in preventing and handling stunting. The material presented was related to the learning module, starting from the introduction of stunting, the communication strategies, to the technical input of stunting complaints in SIKS NG-SLRT module application.

The Head of the Depok City Social Service really appreciates what the Ministry of Social Affairs has done. Stunting cases are still quite high in Indonesia, especially in Depok, in its prevention there must be synergy between institutions. Puskesos as means of community complaints at the village level is able to reach people from house to house, so that socialization and education related to stunting can be reached by the community.

The same thing was also expressed by the Head of Babakan Madang, Bogor Regency Cecep Imam Nagarasid. That requires collaboration and synergy of all parties in the prevention and handling of stunting.

"I as the Camat here really support the collaboration between Ministry of Social Affairs and Ministry of Health in handling stunting. And I just found out that in Babakan Madang District there are still villages with high stunting rates. Hopefully by this collaboration, it can be able to prevent and reduce stunting rates in the district, Babakan Madang district," said Cecep.

It is hoped that cooperation from various parties can reduce the rate of stunting cases that occur in Indonesia. So that it can create a healthy, superior, and prosperous Indonesian society.