“Gemasting” Stunting Prevention Program from IPB University Students
Most people may not know what stunting is. Stunting is a growth disorder in children, namely the child's height is lower than the age standard. The reason is because of the lack of child nutrition in the long term.
According to the 2018 Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) conducted by the Health Research and Development Agency (Litbangkes), the stunting rate that occurred in 2018 in Indonesia reached 30.8 percent. This figure has decreased from 37.2 percent in 2013.
Even so, the figure is still quite high because it is still above the standard set by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is below 20 percent, so Indonesia is among the areas experiencing acute nutrition.
In West Java there are thirteen regions with the highest number of stunting patients, including Garut Regency (43.2%), Cirebon Regency (42.47%), Kuningan Regency (42%), Sumedang Regency (41.08%), Bandung Regency (40.7%), Subang Regency (40.47%), Sukabumi Regency (37.6%), Indramayu Regency (36.12%), Cianjur Regency (35.7%), Karawang Regency (34, 87%), West Bandung Regency (34.2%), Tasikmalaya Regency (33.3%), and Bogor Regency (28.29%).
At present, prevention of stunting has become the focus of the government. The effort aims to make Indonesian children develop optimally so they can compete at the global level. Minister of Health, Nila Moeloek, targets the stunting rate to drop to 28 percent by the end of 2019 and the government has prepared a number of budgets for the target.
Students as agents of change are able to provide education to the community so as to increase people's understanding. This has been done by a team of IPB University students through the Community Service Student Creativity Program (PKM M). They are Aenyfatchu Rohmah, Nurjanah, Imalahur Rosada, Jihan Eka Aprilia, and Olin Aulia Yunia with Supervisor Muhammad Baihaqi, S.Pt, M.Sc.
The five students made a program called Gemasting (Smart Education-Based Stunting Community Movement). The program was conducted in one of the villages in Bogor Regency.
Bogor Regency is one of the areas that is the focus of the West Java government in tackling stunting, because the number of stunting patients is still relatively high, although the figure is still below other areas in West Java.
According to one village head in Bogor Regency, besides the lack of nutritional intake, the term stunting is still considered foreign by the village community, so that the community's understanding of stunting is still low. The community still considers that the child's body condition is influenced by genetic factors so that the child's growth is less noticed.
The existence of public education is very much needed as an effort to make the community better understand stunting.
"Public awareness of the importance of checking the physical condition of children every month is still lacking. People who come to Posyandu only during immunization and check pregnancy. In addition, the lack of numbers and knowledge of cadres in Posyandu has caused Posyandu which has a five-table system to be less serviceable, "said one Posyandu cadre in Bogor Regency.
Gemasting programs include smart indication, smart parenting, smart nutrition, smart cooking, and nutritional consultation. The program is aimed at increasing the knowledge, sense of awareness and concern of the community regarding stunting, as well as increasing community creativity in efforts to prevent stunting through the processing of nutritious food based on local food resources.
Gemasting focuses on understanding about nutrition, parenting, and food processing which is one of the effects of stunting. The targets of Gemasting are fertile age women (WUS), pregnant women and mothers of children under five.
"Stunting can only be prevented on 1,000 First Days of Life (1,000 HPK) until two years old children. Therefore, it is necessary for the public to understand nutrition and parenting good and right before pregnancy so that they can avoid stunting, "said Rohmah.
The output of Gemasting itself is the existence of a program implementation guide book that can be used as a guideline by other regions and the formation of nutritional discs with food arrangements that are in accordance with existing local food resources. So that people can find out the nutritional status of food consumed daily.
The existence of Gemasting is evidence of the real contribution of students to take part in overcoming existing community problems. Stunting prevention efforts need to be carried out by various elements, not just the government.
This problem is certainly our duty to overcome it in order to create a more qualified and able Indonesia to compete at the global level. For that, let's protect Indonesian children from stunting. (NR)
