Empowering Cadres to Prevent Stunting

Abstract

The Province of the Special Region of Yogyakarta has a low stunting rate of 19.8%, however, Bantul Regency has a higher prevalence of stunting than the world's stunting prevalence of 22.9%. Factors causing stunting nutritional problems include direct and indirect factors. Direct factors include infectious diseases and food intake, while indirect factors include food supplies at home and parenting. The prevalence of stunting under five in Timbulharjo Village, one of the villages in Bantul Regency, is 9.48% of a total of 1371 toddlers. Meanwhile, the prevalence of stunting under five aged 24-59 months is 10.13% of 829 and the prevalence of stunting under two years is 8.49 % of 542 children in 2019. Therefore, various efforts have been made by the Ministry of Health, but until now the stunting rate is still high. There needs to be cooperation from various sectors in handling stunting. Besides that, it is also necessary to have the participation of the community and cadres as the front guard. A lecture method related to stunting prevention from adolescence, pregnancy, and after birth was used in this activity. There was a pre-test and a post-test. The pre-test and post-test results showed an increase in the knowledge of cadres and mothers of toddlers regarding stunting prevention. Statistically, this difference is very significant (p<0.05). This increase in knowledge must be carried out continuously to increase the knowledge of the cadres so that they can disseminate it to the people in their environment.