ABSTRAKStunting masih menjadi salah satu permasalahan gizi prioritas di Indonesia yang memerlukan upaya pencegahan dan deteksi dini sejak usia dini. Guru taman kanak-kanak memiliki peran strategis dalam pemantauan pertumbuhan anak karena berinteraksi secara rutin dengan peserta didik, namun belum seluruhnya memiliki pengetahuan yang memadai mengenai pengukuran antropometri dan penentuan status gizi anak. Kegiatan pengabdian kepada masyarakat ini bertujuan meningkatkan pengetahuan guru taman kanak-kanak mengenai pengukuran antropometri dan skrining cepat status gizi anak sebagai upaya mendukung deteksi dini stunting. Kegiatan dilaksanakan pada bulan April 2026 di TKIT Aqila, Kecamatan Dramaga, Kabupaten Bogor, Jawa Barat dengan melibatkan 20 guru yang berasal dari 10 sekolah taman kanak-kanak. Metode yang digunakan meliputi penyuluhan, praktik pengukuran berat badan dan tinggi badan, demonstrasi penggunaan aplikasi AnthroCal, serta evaluasi menggunakan pre-test dan post-test yang terdiri atas 9 pertanyaan mengenai standar pengukuran antropometri dan penentuan status gizi anak. Hasil evaluasi menunjukkan adanya peningkatan pengetahuan peserta yang ditunjukkan oleh kenaikan nilai rata-rata dari 72,2±11,9 pada pre-test menjadi 90,0±9,2 pada post-test. Sebanyak 80% peserta mengalami peningkatan nilai setelah mengikuti kegiatan dengan rata-rata kenaikan sebesar 22,9±10,3. Kegiatan edukasi yang dikombinasikan dengan praktik langsung efektif meningkatkan pengetahuan guru mengenai pengukuran antropometri dan penentuan status gizi anak. Guru taman kanak-kanak berpotensi menjadi mitra strategis dalam mendukung pemantauan pertumbuhan dan deteksi dini stunting di lingkungan sekolah.Kata kunci: Antropometri; Guru taman kanak-kanak; Status gizi anak; Stunting; Skrining gizi. ABSTRACTStunting remains one of the major nutritional problems in Indonesia, requiring prevention and early detection efforts from an early age. Kindergarten teachers play a strategic role in child growth monitoring because they interact regularly with children; however, their knowledge regarding anthropometric measurements and nutritional status assessment is often limited. This community service program aimed to improve kindergarten teachers’ knowledge of anthropometric measurements and rapid nutritional status screening to support early detection of stunting. The activity was conducted in April 2026 at TKIT Aqila, Dramaga District, Bogor Regency, West Java, involving 20 teachers from 10 kindergarten schools. The methods included health education, practical training on weight and height measurements, demonstration of the AnthroCal application, and evaluation using a pre-test and post-test consisting of 9 questions related to anthropometric measurement standards and child nutritional status assessment. The evaluation results showed an increase in participants’ knowledge, as indicated by an improvement in the mean score from 72.2±11.9 in the pre-test to 90.0±9.2 in the post-test. 80% of participants showed improved knowledge scores, with a mean pre-test to post-test increase of 22.9 ± 10.3 points. The combination of educational sessions and hands-on practice effectively enhanced teachers’ knowledge regarding anthropometric measurements and child nutritional status assessment. Kindergarten teachers have the potential to become strategic partners in supporting child growth monitoring and early detection of stunting in school settings.Keywords: Anthropometry; Child nutritional status; Kindergarten teachers; Nutrition screening; Stunting.
Nunung Cipta Dainy, Rosyanne Kushargina, Nurmalia Lusida et al.
School-age malnutrition remains under-recognised in nutrition research and public-health planning, particularly in socio-economically vulnerable districts where children depend on government schools and public services. Ranchi district, Jharkhand, is a relevant setting because it includes rural, peri-urban and urban populations, a sizeable tribal presence and dependence on public schooling and nutrition support. This review-based paper develops a socio-economic and demographic framework for studying malnutrition among government schoolchildren aged 6–12 years in Ranchi district. It draws on primary-data studies from India and other developing regions to identify determinants repeatedly associated with school-age malnutrition. The reviewed evidence indicates that nutritional outcomes are shaped by household poverty, parental education, family size, gender, caste, tribe, ethnicity, dietary diversity, sanitation, morbidity and school environment. The proposed framework links distal determinants such as socio-economic status, household demography and social-group background with proximate pathways such as diet quality, water, sanitation and hygiene, recent illness and school-based support. It also outlines a practical field methodology based on multistage sampling, anthropometry, child and parent schedules, school-level information and descriptive analysis. School-age malnutrition in Ranchi should be studied not only as an anthropometric condition but also as a public-health and social-development issue. A school-centred, household-sensitive and district-level framework can support future field enquiry, nutrition monitoring and targeted public-health responses.
The gut microbiota is a complex ecosystem that plays a significant role in human health, particularly during infancy. This review examines the effects of breastfeeding and formula feeding on the gut microbiota based on research conducted over the past five years.Various studies have shown that infants who are breastfed have a richer and more balanced microbiota profile. The natural prebiotics and probiotics found in breast milk support the growth of beneficial bacteria, particularly Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, helping to protect infants against infections. In contrast, infants who are formula-fed generally exhibit lower microbiota diversity and an increased presence of potentially harmful bacteria. This situation can negatively impact the development of the immune system and increase the risk of allergic diseases.The review also explores the impact of dietary habits from different geographical regions on the microbiota; recommendations for future research are provided, and the importance of promoting breastfeeding is emphasized. Breastfeeding plays a critical role not only in infant nutrition but also in strengthening the mother-infant bond and providing long-term health benefits. Therefore, raising awareness in the community about this issue is essential for helping infants achieve optimal health levels.
Stunting is a major public health issue in Indonesia. Jrakah Village, Boyolali District, is one of the areas facing challenges of stunting prevention and management. Despite the implementation of maternal and child health programs, stunting cases remain common among toddlers. This community service aimed to map the stunting problem in Jrakah Village using a systems thinking approach and to evaluate the stunting intervention programs that have been implemented. The community service method involved data collection, information gathering, and providing recommendations to relevant stakeholders. The community service program was carried out from April to June 2026 in Jrakah Village, Boyolali Regency. Thematic analysis results suggest that the stunting problem in Jrakah Village, Boyolali, is complex and multidimensional. Factors of individual, family, environment, health service, and support system interact to influence stunting incidence. The program has been well implemented by the relevant agencies and community health centers, such as Supplementary feeding programs for children and pregnant women, child growth and development monitoring, health education, and cross-sectoral collaboration. However, challenges remain, including community behavior, environmental and cultural factors, personnel factors and service processes, and system and stakeholder factors. One finding is the persistence of a culture of early marriage, which can increase the risk factors for stunting in the community. Therefore, efforts to control stunting in Jrakah Village require a comprehensive, integrated, and sustainable approach involving all elements of society and relevant stakeholders.
Sutanta, Muhammad Khotibuddin, Arman Rifat Lette et al.
Background: Poor nutritional status among children under five remains a pressing problem in Nepal and is particularly prevalent in Madhesh Province. Poor educational status and culturally influenced community affect the nutritional intake and poses serious problems in under-five children. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting along with the factors associated with it in Pipara rural municipality, Mahottari district. Methods: An analytical cross sectional study design was employed among children aged 6 to 59 months with the sample size of 300. All seven wards of Pipara Rural Municipality were included in the study, and eligible participants were selected using systematic random sampling within each ward. Face to face interview and anthropometric measurement technique was used by using semi-structured questionnaire, dietary diversity questionnaire, weighing machine and stadiometer. Data was collected using kobo toolbox and analyzed using World Health Organization (WHO) Anthro Survey Analyzer, Microsoft Excel and statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) v23. Results: The prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting was found 39.7%, 24.7%, and 12.3% respectively. Minimum dietary diversity was found 59%. However, stunting and wasting had significant association with ethnicity and parental education. Conclusions: Under-five children nutritional status was still found as the issue needs to be addressed, higher stunting and underweight rate shows about the collective outcome of combination of several socio-demographic, socio-economic and childhood-feeding related determinants. Therefore, it reflects about the essence of having closer scrutiny on the policies or implementation gaps.
Objectives: Although obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) related hypoxia shows stronger associations with multiple complications than respiratory disturbance, its impact on linear growth, a major pediatric concern, remains unclear. This study investigates independent effects of hypoxia and respiratory disturbance on the height of children with OSA. Methods: This retrospective, cross-sectional study clinically evaluated children with suspicious OSA from January 2013 to June 2025. Individuals with other sleep disorders, severe neuropsychiatric disorders and physical disorders were excluded. Subjects underwent overnight polysomnography (PSG) and height measurement. OSA was defined as apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 1 event/hour, and those with AHI < 1 event/hour served as the non-OSA reference group. AHI and percentage of total sleep time with oxygen saturation < 90% (T90%), were separately used to evaluate the severity of respiratory disturbance (mild, 1≤AHI < 5 events/h; moderate, 5≤AHI < 10 events/h; severe, AHI ≥ 10 events/h) and hypoxia (T90% quartiles). Height z-scores ≤-1 SD defined subclinical growth impairment. Linear and logistic regression models analyzed the independent associations between AHI and T90% and height and subclinical growth impairment. Nutrition, endocrine disorders, chronic illnesses, and parental height were not collected and adjusted in this study. Results: A total of 2443 children were included (348 children without OSA, 2095 children with OSA). In linear regression models, higher T90% was associated with a lower height z-score in the full sample ( B = − 0.005, 95% CI: − 0.010 to − 0.000, P = 0.033) and children with OSA ( B = − 0.005, 95% CI: − 0.010 to − 0.000, P = 0.034), whereas AHI was not (full sample: B = − 0.003, 95% CI: − 0.006 to 0.001, P = 0.111; children with OSA: B = − 0.002, 95% CI: − 0.005 to 0.002, P = 0.330).Logistic models showed higher odds of subclinical growth impairment in children with moderate (OR = 1.73, 95% CI: 1.05– 2.84) or severe OSA (OR = 1.96, 95% CI: 1.19– 3.21) and in those in the highest T90% quartile (OR = 2.17, 95% CI: 1.30– 3.60), compared with children without OSA. These associations remained stable in females and children aged 2– 9 years. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study to show that greater respiratory disturbance and nocturnal hypoxemia are associated with a higher risk of short stature in children with OSA. These findings support routine height assessment in the clinical management of pediatric OSA. Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea, children growth, height, polysomnography, apnea-hypopnea index, hypoxia
Stunting remains a major nutritional problem that requires accurate and reliable assessment of children’s current growth status. Machine learning can support stunting classification; however, class imbalance and limited model interpretability remain important challenges. This study aims to evaluate the effect of SMOTEENN across classification algorithms with different learning characteristics and interpret the best-performing model using SHAP. Two secondary datasets were integrated, resulting in 41,176 records, of which 41,173 were retained after data cleaning and numerical conversion. Logistic Regression, Decision Tree, Random Forest, and XGBoost were evaluated using original and SMOTEENN-balanced training data. Hyperparameter optimization was performed using RandomizedSearchCV with stratified five-fold cross-validation and ROC-AUC as the optimization metric. The optimized configurations were fixed and applied to both experimental scenarios. Model performance was evaluated using Accuracy, Precision, Recall, F1-Score, and ROC-AUC on an independent test set. Random Forest trained on the original data achieved the best overall performance, with an Accuracy of 0.9600, Precision of 0.9584, F1-Score of 0.9505, and ROC-AUC of 0.9927. SMOTEENN consistently improved Recall across all models but generally reduced the overall performance of tree-based models. The largest improvement occurred in Logistic Regression, with Recall increasing from 0.7058 to 0.8657. SHAP analysis identified Height and Age (Month) as the most influential features. These findings show that the effect of SMOTEENN depends on dataset and algorithm characteristics, while SHAP provides transparent interpretation of current stunting-status classification within the analyzed datasets.
Siti Nurhasanah Nugraha, Muji Ernawati, Evita Fitri et al.
Iron and folic acid supplementation for adolescent girls is essential for preventing anemia in countries such as Indonesia, where the prevalence of anemia ranges from 20% to 40%. The iron supplementation coverage rate in Bekasi City is 13.29%. However, only 8.3% of adolescent girls adhere to iron supplementation. This study aimed to analyze relationships between predisposing, enabling, reinforcing factors and adherence to iron supplementation among adolescent girls in Bekasi, Indonesia. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted between June and August 2023 using validated questionnaires to assess predisposing, enabling, and reinforcing factors. A total of 400 participants were selected using the multistage sampling method consisting of cluster random sampling followed by consecutive sampling. Chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression analyses were used to establish the relationship between the variables. The availability of iron supplementation at schools, peer support, family support, attitude, and teacher support were found to be significantly associated with adjusted odds ratios(AOR) consecutively of 4.738 (2.654–8.460), 4.218 (2.150–8.275),2.463 (1.379–4.398), 2.291 (1.273–4.112), and 2.089 (1.058–4.124). The availability of supplements in schools emerged as the strongest factor associated with adherence to iron supplementation. Anemia prevention strategies for adolescent girls should prioritize interventions targeting the most influential determinants of adherence.
Malnutrition is a major nutritional and public-health concern affecting children and adolescents in India. It includes under nutrition, micronutrient deficiencies and over nutrition, with stunting, wasting, underweight, anemia, overweight and obesity representing important manifestations. The nutritional condition of children is influenced by dietary quality, household food security, socioeconomic status, parental education, sanitation, healthcare access and feeding practices. Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh provides an important regional context for examining these interrelated determinants. The District Nutrition Profile of Jaunpur prepared using national survey data indicates a substantial burden of child under nutrition and anemia, while more recent national evidence demonstrates the continuing importance of addressing both under nutrition and emerging overweight. This review synthesizes available evidence related to malnutrition, dietary practices, micronutrient deficiencies, socioeconomic determinants and possible Home Science-based interventions relevant to Jaunpur district. Evidence from South Asia indicates that nutritional problems among school-age children and adolescents remain heterogeneous and that inadequate dietary diversity and unhealthy food consumption are important concerns. Nutrition education, dietary diversification, school-based interventions, growth monitoring and family-centered counseling can contribute to improving nutritional outcomes. The review identifies a need for more district-specific research among school-age children in Jaunpur, particularly studies combining anthropometric assessment, dietary diversity, nutritional awareness and socioeconomic variables.
Background: Stunting in the first two years of life remains a major public health concern in Kenya, affecting about one in five children and leading to long-term consequences on cognitive development and economic productivity. Traditional, largely reactive approaches that rely on linear statistical models have a limited ability to capture the complex, non‑linear determinants of stunting. Given that stunting arises from an interplay of immediate, underlying, and structural determinants, machine learning (ML) methods offer a promising alternative. ML techniques can leverage large, heterogeneous datasets to uncover hidden patterns and non‑linear interactions among associated factors, potentially enabling earlier and more accurate identification of children with higher probabilities of stunting. Objective of the study: This study applied supervised machine learning techniques to predict early childhood stunting among children aged 0-23 months and identify associated factors using nationally representative data from the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. Methods: Three models—logistic regression (LR), balanced random forest (BRF), and categorical boosting (CatBoost)—were developed and evaluated using metrics aligned with programmatic priorities, including recall, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), F1-score, and Brier Score. To address class imbalance, balanced class weights were applied, and models were trained at a threshold of 0.4 to optimize sensitivity. Results: CatBoost achieved the highest overall performance (AUC = 70.8%, recall = 85.8%), while LR remained highly competitive (AUC = 71.5%, Recall = 77.2%), outperforming BRF. Across all three models, consistent predictors included the child’s age, sex, birth size, twin status, maternal stature, household wealth, and geographic location, reflecting the multifactorial nature of stunting and aligning with existing literature. Conclusions: Simpler models, when combined with domain-informed feature engineering, could perform comparably to advanced algorithms while supporting transparency, which is essential for policy-relevant decision-making. The findings also provide methodological support for integrating predictive modelling into nutrition research and highlight opportunities to improve stunting prevention strategies.
