Community-based recommendations to reduce child stunting prevalence: A capital city region study in Central Lampung Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

Background Identification of growth-inhibiting factors in children continues to be a starting point for finding specific and appropriate recommendations in the world's anti-stunting efforts. An overview of the nutrition of affected children juxtaposed with the understanding of the nutrition of mothers/caregivers of toddlers will confirm the high number of cases in 2021 in Lampung Tengah Regency. Objectives This paper provides recommendations for handling stunting based on confirmed characteristics and information as an increase in stunting cases among children in Central Lampung Regency which occurs in 2021. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on a sample of 360 households with stunting children aged 0–59 months selected by purposive sampling and spread across three capital areas in Lampung Tengah Regency, Indonesia, namely households located in the capital district (A), near the capital (B), and far from the capital city (C). Anthropometry is measured using standard procedures and categorized manually based on national references. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and quantitatively analyzed through SPSS version 17.0. Qualitative studies were conducted through FGDs and in-depth interviews with health workers who are authorized to overcome stunting in their areas. Recommendations are a formulation of the results of quantitative and qualitative study. Results Majority stunting children in our study were male (50.83%) with an average age of over two years (31.4 months). More than half have %RDA categories for energy and carbohydrate deficits, and half have %RDA categories for fat deficits. A total of 111 mothers/caregivers of children had poor nutrition knowledge, and 237 others were in the moderate category, while the majority of them had moderate nutritional attitudes (45%). The recommendation to continue supplementary feeding (SF) recovery activities by increasing understanding of nutrition for mothers/caregivers of children is the main program that needs to be focused on by the local government in efforts to deal with stunting children in Central Lampung Regency. Conclusions Improving the current evidence-based nutrition package through the provision of SF recovery and the performance of mothers/caregivers and cadres in providing and supervising children's meals, as well as feedback to existing community-based nutrition programs will dramatically reduce the prevalence of stunting.