Indonesian Nutrition Agency Head Reassigns Staff for Using Phone During Zoom Meeting

The Head of Indonesia's National Nutrition Agency (BGN), Sudaryono, has reassigned a regional coordinator, Adi Afrianto, from Kayong Utara, West Kalimantan, to South Sulawesi. The disciplinary action was taken because Afrianto was observed using his mobile phone during a Zoom meeting with Sudaryono. "So, it is true that the person concerned was holding a mobile phone while I was giving a Zoom briefing," Sudaryono stated during a press conference at the BGN office in Central Jakarta on Friday (31/7/2026). A viral video showed Sudaryono initially requesting Afrianto's transfer to Papua. However, upon further inspection, it was found that Papua had an oversupply of SPPG (Specialized Nutrition Cadre) personnel. Consequently, Afrianto was reassigned to South Sulawesi, where there was a need for additional SPPI (Specialized Nutrition Program Implementer) staff. "After checking, it turned out that in Papua, the number of SPPG or SPPI personnel is actually in oversupply. This means the SPPI personnel are more numerous than the available food preparation facilities, leading to an oversupply of staff. Therefore, we did not move him to Papua, but to another region. We moved him, if I'm not mistaken, to South Sulawesi, where there is indeed a need for additional SPPI personnel there," Sudaryono explained. Furthermore, Sudaryono mentioned that BGN has been reviewing data from the Ministry of Health for the prioritization mapping of the Maternal and Child Nutrition Program (MBG). He stated that MBG will focus on regions with high stunting rates, including 3T areas (underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost regions). "We are reviewing data from the Ministry of Health; the areas are already mapped out, including which provinces, regencies, districts, and villages. We are synchronizing this data to identify priorities. We will first focus on areas with high stunting rates," he said. "These 3T areas are the same as those with high stunting rates, not only in Papua but also in NTT, and several other regions, including findings in several regencies in Java where stunting rates are also quite high."