Stunting: The Face Of Poverty

“Our vision is to achieve zero stunting in Indonesia. We aim to achieve this through our mission to deliver a national, scalable solution to two pressing issues – transforming in-home access to information and providing critical training for community health workers. Our goal is to drive cognitive behavioral change at a household level that leads to sustainable, lasting measures for prevention. “

When did you start your project, and what was the reason?

In 2018, we received a small grant from the World Bank to start a pilot project on three islands off the coast of Flores island, Komodo, Messah, and Rinca.

If you want to learn more about Flores, read our article on a travel experience through flores here.

These islands have the highest prevalence of stunting and suffer from bad sanitation access, leading to high cases of diarrhea and malnutrition.

We tested our Smart Charts, to explore and examine its effectiveness within the fishing village communities. Our pilot discovered that the Smart Charts could contribute to the knowledge increase of stunting among pregnant women and caregivers of children under two from only 4% at the start to 65% at the end.

Can you explain to me exactly what stunting means?

Stunting is low height for age caused by multiple factors, primarily diseases, poor health and hygiene, and prolonged malnutrition.

Why is it still happening in the 21st century?

Simply because while many parts of the world have excelled and advanced, development in some areas remains at the minimum level – including the distribution of basic health information.

For instance, despite having access to livestock, vegetables and fruits, some families choose to sell these and buy instant noodles and other zero-nutrient foods. That shows that it’s not necessarily about access to food but about having the proper knowledge and implementing healthy habits. This is where the role of CHWs is very crucial as the pillar of health knowledge in the community. Community health workers are the key to the distribution of crucial information for prevention.

What’s the difference between malnutrition and stunting?

Malnutrition is only a part of what causes it. Stunting itself does not result solely from malnutrition but multiple factors, including poor hygiene, poor antenatal (after birth) care, and prolonged malnutrition.

What are the consequences for infants in the first 1000 days?

Children who are stunted are prone to illnesses and lose IQ points. Consequently, they will miss more school days because of those illnesses and fall behind among their peers. Once they become adults, they will also find it harder to find jobs and earn less than their non-stunted peers, locking them and their families into an endless poverty cycle.

What can people do, and how can they support you?

The key to prevention in the areas with the highest stunting rate is better counseling and antenatal care. This would not happen without better cognitive understanding from caregivers, championed by well-trained community health workers (CHWs).

We want to train as many CHWs and village midwives as possible, which would not have been possible without the continuous support of our generous donors. We are also crowdfunding the nationwide distribution of our tools, especially the Smart Charts, to the public through a partnership with KitaBisa, so our tools can reach millions of households across Indonesia.

Please help us providing access to information and tools to prevent stunting for families across Indonesia by donating HERE

Visit their website for more information:

1000daysfund.org

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WA +62 821-4763-1802

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