RISK FACTORS FOR STUNTING PREVALENCE IN CHILDREN UNDER 5 YEARS OLD AND ITS PREVENTION Desy Linasari
Desy Linasari
Department of Community Health Science
Medicine Faculty, Universitas Jenderal Achmad Yani, Indonesia
Correspondence email : desy.linasari[at]lecture.unjani.ac.id
Abstract
Stunting is the impaired growth in children younger than 5 years old due to chronic malnutrition causing the children^s height to be too short for their age. Referring to the Ministry of Health, stunting is defined as children under 5 years old whose Z-score is lower than -2SD, and lower than -3SD for the children severely stunted. According to data from Riskesdas the trend of stunting prevalence tends to increase every year. In 2007 the stunting prevalence was 36,8, while in 2013 it reached 37,2%. Nearly 9 millions of Indonesian children suffer from stunting, and Indonesia is ranked the 5th in the world for the highest number of short children. Malnutrition at an early age increases the number of infant and children mortality and causes the sufferers to be vulnerable to sickness with not-maximum body posture when they are adults. The cognitive abilities of the sufferers also decline, therefore causing a long-run economic loss. The study was aimed to know the risk factors related to the prevalence of stunting in children under 5 years old. The study used cross-sectional study with sample taking technique employing consecutive sampling. The study was done at the Community Health Center in Cibeber, Cimahi with 116 children under 5 years old. The data were analysed with data analysis using simple regression logistic. The study concluded that the highest risk factor for stunting to happen in children was the maternal knowledge with the OR score of 3,03. Stunting prevalence was affected by the mother^s behaviour in parenting the children. Attitudes and knowledge are the factors affecting behaviour, therefore stunting prevention can be done by improving the knowledge of the mother on nutrition and good parenting.
