Disasterchannel.co,- Some after all have passed in the middle of the corona virus pandemic. Many unwanted things happened during this pandemic. One of the bad things that cannot be avoided is stunting.
Stunting is a condition where toddlers have weight and height that are not in accordance with their age, this is due to malnutrition in the womb and when the baby is born. This condition can lead to several disturbances in the future, for example difficulties in achieving optimal physical and cognitive development. The condition of children experiencing stunting has an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) lower than the average IQ of normal children.
Indonesia’s status is still fourth in the world and second in Southeast Asia in terms of stunting under five. The stunting rate in Indonesia is still high, every year 1.2 million babies are born with stunting conditions. Although the stunting rate tends to decrease, in 2019, the stunting rate in Indonesia reached 27.67 percent. However, this figure is still higher than the maximum tolerance for stunting set by the World Health Organization (WHO), which is less than 20 percent.
Stunting is one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the second sustainable development goal, namely by 2030 eliminating all forms of malnutrition. Realizing the SDGs is not as easy as expected, because it has been two and almost two years that this country has experienced the COVID-19 pandemic which has hampered the progress of every existing goal.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a policy of limiting activities outside the home has been established. This hinders the activities of residents to earn an income in order to live a decent life.
Based on research conducted by Subekti, 2021, it was stated that the decline in Posyandu activities had a negative impact on weighing services and providing additional nutrition for toddlers, as well as Puskesmas also experienced a decline in health services.
The decrease in Posyandu activity causes the condition of infants and pregnant women to not be properly monitored. This has implications for the condition of low nutritional intake in the first 1,000 days of life, namely when the fetus is up to the baby is two years old, which causes stunting to occur.
Various efforts can be made to reduce stunting, including by increasing the processing of processed types of nutritious food as a means of fulfilling household-scale food. Regulate environmental management, sanitation facilities to start managing existing water sources. Carry out waste management or disposal results from activities and household-scale waste management.
There needs to be a synergy from various parties to overcome stunting. Because if left unchecked, the stunting problem can have a major impact on the quality of Indonesian children in the future. (LS)
Source:
Subekti Sri et al. 2021. Pengaruh Covid19 Terhadap Stunting Di Kecamatan Karangmoncol Kabupaten Purbalingga. Prosiding Seminar Nasional Penelitian Dan Pengabdian 2021. Penelitian dan Pengabdian Inovatif pada Masa Pandemi Covid-19. ISBN: 978-623-6535-49-3
Photo Source: promkes.kemkes.go.id
