Strengthening Community Food Security through Posyandu Cadre and Midwife Empowerment Action Program

Abstract

Community food security means fulfilment of energy and nutrients of every community member from daily food consumption intake. Non-fulfilment of these requirements led to the incidence of malnutrition in the community, which marked by the emergence of nutritional problems among the nutrition vulnerable groups, such as low body weight of under five years olds children, malnourished including stunting children. Food and nutritional insights of the community program actors, such as posyandu and nutrition cadres, and midwives plays an important role in efforts to prevent and repair the problem of malnutrition in young children, especially from the lower to middle income groups. Therefore, empowerment posyandu cadres, nutrition cadres, and midwives through briefing mastery of knowledge (cognitive competence) food, nutrition, and nutritional status, is the critical point of community food security. The purpose of this descriptive pre-post design study is evaluate the effect of the short nutrition class program on the increase of food, nutrition, and health knowledge of posyandu cadres, nutrition cadres, and midwives who play an important roles in handling the vulnerable malnourished families with infant and under fives children whose body weight below the red line standard (BGM) or stunting. The cadre and midwives subject was selected from the high stunting problem villages in the Sumbersari district in Jember. By 75 percent of active posyandu cadre and all midwife in the high prevalence malnourished regencies were selected as subject. After following the action program of nutrition class about nutritious food for the family, most of participants (80 %) increased their food nutritional insights. Similarly, after participated in pregnancy nutrition class program, the insight knowledge of the majority (95%) of the midwives on pregnancy nutrition increased, proper and correct. After attending the balanced nutrition class by 75 percent of subject increased insight of balanced diet for family.