JAKARTA (July 22, 2020) - The government through the Ministry of Social Affairs ensures that pregnant women and early childhood children (AUD) have adequate nutritional intake through social assistance (bansos) for the Family Hope Program (PKH) to prevent stunting in infants and toddlers.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic, people's purchasing power decreased. For this reason, PKH is disbursed every month so that the mothers of PKH Beneficiary Families (KPM) still have income. This social assistance money must be used to buy nutritious food such as eggs, fish, meat, vegetables and fruits," said the Minister of Social Affairs, Juliari P. Batubara in Jakarta, today (22/7).

Based on data from Directorate of Family Social Security (JSK) of the Ministry of Social Affairs, the number of pregnant women who received PKH in 2020 was 60,908 people, while the total AUD was 2.9 million. This year, the amount of assistance received for the components of pregnant women and AUD each is 3 million rupiah once a year. This number increased compared to last year, which was 2.4 million rupiah per pregnant woman/AUD.

"This budget increase is a manifestation of the state presence among its people to improve the health of pregnant women and early childhood, increase their nutritional intake, so that Indonesian children grow up healthy and are not stunted," said Juliari.

Nutrition matters, continued the Minister of Social Affairs, should not be forgotten under any circumstances, including the conditions that occurred during COVID-19. If the child's nutrition is fulfilled, then the children will grow up healthy and be able to excel in school and not be susceptible to various diseases such as COVID-19.

"Good nutrition for pregnant women and early childhood will also prevent stunting. With good nutrition, the immune system of children will be stronger," said the father of two.

Stunting is a chronic nutritional problem in toddlers which is characterized by a shorter height compared to children in the same age. Children who suffer from stunting will be more susceptible to disease and as adults are at risk for degenerative diseases. Stunting not only has an impact on health, but also affects the level of children intelligence.
The Minister of Social Affairs said that children are the next generation of the nation in the future. Healthy children will become qualified Indonesian human resources and be able to compete with other nations in facing global challenges.
 
"To prevent stunting, President Joko Widodo has launched a stunting prevention intervention that involves cross-ministerial and institutional. The Ministry of Social Affairs is involved in this through two national priority programs, namely PKH and Groceries Program where the targets of these two programs are mothers and children, "explained the former member of the Parliament from the constituency of Central Java.

With this cross-sectoral collaboration, the Minister continued, the government hopes to reduce the stunting rate in Indonesia so that the target for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2025 is to reduce the stunting rate to 40%.

High Absorption Realization

Meanwhile, to support efforts to prevent malnutrition during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Director General of Social Protection and Security, Pepen Nazaruddin, admitted that he had instructed all PKH human resources and asked the State Bank Association (Himbara) as the channeling party to accelerate the process of distributing PKH funds to KPM.

"We have asked all PKH human resources to work hard to assist KPM and Himbara to speed up distribution," explained Pepen.

Pepen added that until July 2020, the disbursement of PKH funds had reached 24.08 trillion throughout Indonesia. The provinces of West Java, East Java and Central Java became the provinces with the highest realizations this month.

Data from the Ministry of Social Affairs noted that the number of pregnant women who received PKH assistance was the highest, respectively, namely East Java Province which reached 12,851 KPM, Central Java and West Java Provinces, each reaching 11,925 and 10,565 KPM.

"The highest AUD that received assistance was West Java with 534,877 children, followed by Central Java with 413,597 children and East Java with 391,720 children," said the Director General.

For data on PKH recipients with a target of 10 million KPM throughout Indonesia, these three provinces have the largest number of KPM in Indonesia. In West Java there were 1,737,884 KPM, Central Java 1,560,774 KPM and East Java as many 1,729,485 KPM.