PENGUATAN KAPASITAS TOKOH AGAMA DALAM UPAYA PENANGGULANGAN STUNTING WILAYAH KABUPATEN KUPANG ALOR

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The problem of stunting has the potential to disrupt the quality of human resources and is related to health levels and even child mortality. In this case, religious leaders are parties who play a direct role, especially in preventing stunting through shaping family consumption patterns in religious service areas. Family mothers who cultivate and implement nutritious food consumption patterns can prevent family members, including children under five, from nutritional problems, including stunting. The activity was carried out in Alor Regency on 21-23 October 2023 with the aim of strengthening Christian, Catholic, Hindu and Islamic religious leaders in carrying out service duties to families, especially family mothers, in order to increase knowledge about consuming diverse, nutritious, balanced and safe food. and be able to take preventive action at the stage of preparing nutritious food for family consumption. Implementation uses the "Education and/or counseling" method. Where, all religious leaders are given teaching or material with the aim that they can determine the source of the problem and form services related to overcoming and preventing nutritional problems including stunting through choosing healthy, varied and safe types of food. The evaluation process was carried out before and after the activity to measure the abilities and changes in attitudes of 60 religious leaders regarding the counseling material. The pre-test results found that the majority (69.7%) of religious leaders already knew about stunting but did not understand consumption patterns including the type, quantity and correct method of food processing and the impact on the incidence of stunting. However, after confirmation from the results of the counseling, it was discovered that 100% of religious leaders could understand the correct consumption patterns. This starts from indicators of the ability to choose the type of food, compiling a simple but nutritious menu using a processing method that is friendly to the availability of sufficient and appropriate nutritional content as needed and can ensure that the amount of food consumed is according to the needs per day per age per gender of family members.