BACKGROUND: The association of air pollution with children’s health and growth has been proved.
AIM: This study aimed to assess the length attainment and stunting prevalence of children living in the areas of clay brick kiln and non-clay brick kilns.
METHODS: The study was a cross-sectional study conducted from February to December 2020. The location of the study was in Pagar Merbau Subdistrict, Deli Serdang District, North Sumatera Indonesia. Four villages were selected purposively to be the location of study. The total participants were 192 families who have children aged 0–24 years old. To assess the length attainment, the median WHO standard was determined as reference. The growth curve of children was presented in a bubble growth chart. To determine whether the groups were comparable, pair t-tests were applied.
RESULTS: Compared to the median WHO standard, the length attainment of boys aged 18–24 months shorter 1.1–1.9 cm and 0.8–1.9 cm (CBK vs. non-CBK, respectively), whereas for girls shorter 1.5–2.0 cm and 0.8–1.2 cm (CBK vs. non-CBK, respectively). The difference length between non-CBK and CBK children at age 18–24 months is 0.8–1.9 cm. Growth curves of children since born until aged 24 months were around −1SD–0SD. The prevalence of stunting is 18.6% versus 19.8%.
CONCLUSION: The presence of clay brick kilns in villages treated children’s growth. Government should manage the establishment of clay brick kilns in villages. Children cognitive and height of children at school age need to investigate.
Increasing body immunity is very necessary after the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the efforts that can be made to increase the body's immunity is to consume functional foods with immunostimulant activity, such as processed snakehead fish products in the form of nuggets, and "parkusel" juice made from a mixture of bitter melon, dates and celery. The purpose of community service is to provide knowledge and skills to housewives and the community at the Veteran ABRI Housing Complex in Medan Estate, Deli Serdang Regency, in making functional food products in the form of snakehead fish nuggets and Perkusel juice. The community service method used is the counseling method with leafet aids and training in making snakehead fish nuggets and perkusel juice. The results of the activity showed that there was an increase in the knowledge of the community participants in community service activities about nutritious snack products that can increase body immunity by 71% in the good value category.
Indonesia still has a relatively high stunting prevalence of children under five years. Deli Serdang Regency is one of regencies in North Sumatera Province that has acute-chronic nutritional problems. Provision of additional food in the form of red kidney bean cookies is carried out to overcome nutritional deficiencies that occur in the toddler age group, as well as increase society understanding about stunting, its impact and how to handle it. This community service activity was carried out in Kubah Sentang Village, Pantai Labu District, Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatra Province. Counseling and training on stunting handling through making red kidney bean cookies was attended by 50 participants consisting of mothers who were members of the PKK group, posyandu cadres, mothers with toddlers, and youth groups. Based on the results of the pre-test and post-test, there was a decrease in the number of participants who had knowledge about stunting in the category less than 41.3% to 13.0%, and as many as 56% of participants had knowledge about stunting in the good category.
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