2019 Great Indonesian Family Academy Class Helps Bogor Residents to Prevent Stunting

Stunting is a problem of growth and development failure in infants due to chronic malnutrition for a long period of time. Usually occurs from the time of the womb, the beginning of a new baby and will only appear when a child is two years old. Prevention of stunting is currently a priority of the government. Based on data from WHO in 2018, one in three children in Indonesia suffers from stunting. Therefore, the most appropriate treatment for stunting is in the first 1000 days of life, from pregnancy to the age of two years.

The existence of social problems faced by the family shows that the function of the family in maintaining, growing and developing the quality of family members cannot be implemented optimally.

One effort made to reduce problems faced by families and re-enforce family functions is to empower families through family education. Family empowerment is basically building the family’s ability to advance toward a better life in a sustainable manner.

Family empowerment through the process of family education is one of the sensitive nutritional interventions carried out for the handling of stunting in the long term. Together with the Population and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN), the Office for Empowering Women Protection of Children in Population and Family Planning (DP3AP2KB) Bogor Regency and the Department of Family and Consumer Sciences (IKK), the Faculty of Human Ecology (Fema) IPB University conducts the Indonesian Great Family Academy program (AKHI) Class 1000 HPK in 10 Priority Stunting Villages in Bogor Regency. In this family education program, not only material implementation of family functions but also the care of pregnancy and childcare for handling child growth and development problems, including stunting.

At the opening of the 2019 AKHI Class in Pabuaran Village, Sukamakmur District, (2/9), the Head of Pabuaran Village, Atika Pauzi stated that with this program, it was hoped that it could reduce the incidence of stunting in Pabuaran Village and mothers who participated in this activity could apply the knowledge gained in each house and can disseminate the knowledge gained during AKHI 2019 activities to family members and neighbors in the home environment.

Family education becomes an important matter given to families as the main capital in the development of a prosperous family and the formation of quality human resources. The uniqueness of this program is that the participants are involved not only wives, but husbands can also participate.

This is because in caring for children is not only the responsibility of the wife but also requires an active role and support from the husband in the practice of care to reduce and prevent stunting in children.

“In the future, locations that become locus of stunting can be reduced and Indonesia has qualified Human Resources (HR) and Indonesian mothers have healthy, smart and character children so it is important to participate in AKHI 2019 activities for 16 meetings. In this program mothers will get additional knowledge, especially in parenting,” said Dra. Maria Evi, Director of Toddler and Child Family Development – BKKBN RI.

Meanwhile, Dr Tin Herawati as the Chairperson of the IKK Department stated that the first two years of life greatly determine the quality of human resources in the future so that family education in each region is needed. (RYS)