Evaluation of Childhood Stunting Reduction Treatments in Indonesia

Abstract

Abstract Stunting poses a major issue in many developing countries, including Indonesia, with the lack of dietary intake as one of the main driving factors. Further, the prevalence of stunting in Indonesia is still considered high, which was recorded to be about 24.4% in 2021. Each local government tried to give local food an extra supplementation to support the fostering of stunting reduction. However, the impact of the treatment using local food from the local government needs to be elucidated. Hence, this study aims to register the children with stunting in Serdang Bedagai Regency and monitor the progression of the treatment conducted by the government. The data collection was performed using StuntingDB. A total of 483 stunted children who participated were registered in StuntingDB and were divided into three groups based on treatments or stunting reduction programs. After six months of treatment, 219 stunted children data were analyzed. The results showed that all groups of children who received stunting reduction programs grew significantly. Meanwhile, the children who were given Channa Product Supplementation (CPS) experienced greater height and weight gain, compared to their counterparts. In addition, we found no significant difference in both height and weight gains between male and female children consuming CPS. Overall, our study displayed the potential of CPS to treat stunted children.