Prabowo’s Free Nutritious Meal Program to Improve the Nutritional Quality of the Young Generation

Jakarta – The Prabowo-Gibran government has positioned the Free Nutritious Meal (MBG) program as one of the main strategies in improving the quality of Indonesia’s Human Resources (HR).

This program is expected to be a long-term investment that contributes to the achievement of Indonesia Emas 2045 by ensuring that the young generation has sufficient nutrition to grow and develop optimally.

MBG is a national program designed to cover all students from Early Childhood Education (PAUD), Elementary School (SD), Junior High School (SMP), to Senior High School (SMA), as well as pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.

“The MBG program is one of the mainstay programs of the Prabowo-Gibran government which has a big vision in human resource development. After two terms of President Jokowi’s government focused on infrastructure development, now is the time for us to make a big investment in human quality,” said a nutrition expert from the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB), Prof. Ali Khomsan, in a dialogue with Radio Elshinta.

Since its launch, MBG has reached around 600,000 children, and in the long term it is targeted to reach around 82 million children throughout Indonesia.

“Although it has only been running for about two months, various challenges in the implementation of this program continue to be observed so that they can be improved over time. Formative evaluation is an important step to perfect the program so that it can run better and be on target,” he said.

One of the main reasons for the importance of this program is the high rate of stunting in Indonesia. Since 2019, the issue of stunting has become a national concern that initially focused on toddlers.

However, based on the 2023 Indonesian Health Survey (SKI), the problem of stunting was also found in school-age children. Data shows that around 18% to 23% of elementary, middle, and high school students experience this condition.

“We have been highlighting stunting in toddlers, but in fact this problem continues until children enter school age. In fact, school is a period of growth that can still be intervened with nutritional improvements,” explained a nutritionist.

Although the effects of this program will not be seen in the short term, because increasing height and improving nutritional status take time, periodic evaluations must still be carried out.

That way, the implementation of MBG in the field can continue to be improved so that its benefits are truly felt by the wider community without many obstacles. The government hopes that with better nutrition, future generations will grow healthier and be ready to compete in facing global challenges. []