JAKARTA, Oct. 18 (Xinhua) -- The rate of child stunting in Indonesia this year has decreased to 27.7 percent from 30.8 percent in 2018, Indonesian Health Minister Nila Moeloek said Friday.
She said that this year's decline rate was better compared to the decline rate in the past five years, which was approximately 1.2 percent.
"We want to announce that the current stunting rate is 27.76 percent, but, WHO (World Health Organization) wants us to make it under 20 percent," Moeloek told reporters.
The WHO defines stunting as the impaired growth and development that children experience as a result of poor nutrition, repeated infection and inadequate psychosocial stimulation. Undernourishment is the leading cause of stunting.
Indonesia ranks second in Asia for stunting prevalence, after Laos, which sees 43.8 percent of children below five years old suffering from stunting.
