Jakarta| Taking place in Bidakara Hotel Jakarta, Widya Karya Nasional Pangan dan Gizi (WNPG) XI, a national-level event in food and nutrition sector is held on July 3-4, 2018. Themed “Hastening the Decrease of Stunting Rate through the Revitalization of Food and Nutrition Tenacity in accordance with the Realization of Sustainable Development”, the event has been officially opened by Jusuf Kalla, the Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia.
Unimus has sent 3 lecturers to participate in the national event in the fields of food and nutrition. They are Dr. Ir. Ali Rosyidi, M.Si., a lecturer in Nutrition Study Program and Dr. Ir. Nurrahman, M.Si., a lecturer in Food Technology Study Program (Sector 3/Improvement of Food Security and Quality Assurance), and Agus Suyanto, STP, M.Si., a lecturer in Food Technology Study Program (Sector 2/Improvement of Diverse Food Accessibility). Unimus also sends Yuliana Noor Setiawati Ulvie, S.Gz., M.Sc. (A lecturer in Nutrition Study Program and Sholihatul Mahmudah (a student in Nutrition Study Program) who give contributions by sending their posters.
Given the significance of the theme and the event’s output, the event can become a reference for the government to make a developmental plan. Organized by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) WNPG has invited some important figures such as Prof. M. Natsir (Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education), Puan Maharani (Coordinating Minister of Human Development and Cultural Affairs), Prof. Nila Moeloek (Minister of Health), and Prof. Bambang Brojonegoro (Minister of National Development Planning of Indonesia). The Ministry of Agriculture was represented by the head of Food Security Agency. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries were represented by their secretary generals. There were also head of National Standardization Agency attending and presenting in the event. Other speakers were representing 5 sectors. They were competent figures representing academic field, echelon 1 offices, industry, the World Health Organization, and observers.
Stunting is a child nutrition term describing comparison between height, age, and low weight that makes a child have a low posture (stunted) in a serious condition, making him or her (stunted), becoming dwarf or “kuntet” in Javanese. Dr. Ali Rosyidi stated that, “According to the World Bank, Indonesia is ranked 5th in terms of the number of stunted children. Out of totally 159 millions stunted children, there are 9 million stunted children from Indonesia. In the Southeast Asia, Indonesia is ranked 1st in terms of the number of stunted children. This is a sad reality. Stunting has become a big problem for it is not just a health problem but a multidimensional problem related to clean water access, food access, and parenting.”
Dr. Nurrahman, a lecturer of Food Technology Study Program added that, “It is important to prevent stunting, matching with the government’s slogan. Unimus will be actively involved in researches and coordination in stunting care. In accordance with the event’s theme, we will persuade fellow lecturers and students to seriously think about this stunting problem, which will potentially decrease the quality of the human resources.”
According to Agus Suyanto, STP, M.Si., “Data of 2013 from Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) showed that the proportions of stunting were 36.8% (in 2007), 35.6% (in 2010) and 37.2% (in 2013), indicating some increase. WNPG is a forum for stakeholders who can take part strategically in the attempts to confront and synchronize various programs and policies on food and nutrition to each others to hasten the stunting rate in Indonesia. Target in the 12th WNPG is a short-term target, which is as a material to arrange RPJMN of 2020-2024. Meanwhile, the middle-term target is that the recommendation from the WNPG is adopted to be included in food and nutrition programs organized by more than one ministry and on various levels of national and local institutions. The long-term target is to help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.”
WNPG is a forum held periodically, once in four years focusing on issues concerning science and technology and solutions dealing with food and nutrition. WNPG has been organized by the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI) since 1968.
The five sectors being discussed in the 12th WNPG are 1) Sector 1: Improvement of Community Nutrition (handled by the Ministry of Health), 2) Sector 2: Improvement of Diverse Food Accessibility (Food Security Agency and Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries), Sector 3: Improvement of Security and Food Quality Assurance (National Standardization Agency and National Agency of Food and Drug Control), Sector 4: Improvement of Clean and Healthy Life Behavior (Ministry of Health), and Sector 5: Coordination of Food and Nutrition Development (National Development Planning Agency). Materials of the discussions are available on the following link
Article https://wnpg.lipi.go.id/download/
Lecturers, students, and the rest academicians at Unimus also participate in preventing stunting in order to improve the human resources’ quality national competitiveness. (Gus/admin)
