Child growth awareness: an important role for reaching the optimal first 1000 days in life
Jeslyn Tengkawan (a*), Ayu Anandhika (a), Titi Pambudi Karuniawaty (b), Ristania Ellya John (a,b), Zulfikar Ihyauddin (a), Kezia Jessica (a)
a) Yayasan Capella Project Indonesia
Taman Surya 5 Ruko Avenue Blok KK1 No. 57
Cengkareng, Jakarta Barat 11730, Indonesia
*jeslynteng[at]yahoo.com
b) Mataram University, Faculty of Medicine
Abstract
Background and Aims: Monitoring child growth plays an important role in detecting child-s growth abnormalities and monitoring child-s nutritional adequacy. This study aimed to measure the completeness of growth chart in maternal and child health book and evaluate cadres. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in three stunting villages in Lombok Tengah. We evaluated 59 cadres and nutritionists and 205 maternal and child books. Results: We found 100% of WHO growth charts, including weight for height/length, height/length for age, and head circumference for age graphs in maternal and child health books were not filled. Out of 59 participants, 23.7% was never participated in height/length measurement and only 13.6% did a head circumference measurement at least once. 94.9% never filled or plotted WHO curves in maternal and child health book with the most reasons are did not know how to fill (64.4%), and 28.8% did not know that the growth chart can be filled and plotted. Implication: Prior studies showed that routine child growth monitoring should be done especially for children younger than 2 years. We suggest that government should socialize more about the importance and the urgency about child growth and development awareness to all parents and healthcare practitioners.
Keywords: child health; growth assessment; awareness; 1000 days
Topic: The First 1,000 Days in Life