Fact Check: One in Three Toddlers in Indonesia Suffers from Stunting

Presidential candidate number 02, Prabowo Subianto, in his national address at the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC), Senayan, Jakarta (14/1/2019), highlighted several issues. One of them is that 1 in 3 children under 5 years old (toddlers) experience stunting/failure to thrive due to protein or nutrient deficiency.

According to Katadata's research, the prevalence of stunting in Indonesian toddlers in 2018 reached 30.8%. This means that indeed 1 in 3 toddlers (1/3 of toddlers) experience stunting/dwarfism. Data from the Ministry of Health recorded that this stunting prevalence consists of toddlers with very short stature (11.5%) and those with short stature (19.3%).

The prevalence of stunting in toddlers in 2018 increased over the past two years and is at its highest level since 2014. According to WHO standards, an area is considered to have an acute malnutrition problem if the prevalence of stunted infants is more than 20% or the prevalence of wasted toddlers is above 5%. Lack of nutritional intake and parental knowledge about the importance of health are among the causes of the high number of toddlers with below-standard height.