Poverty and Lack of Nutritional Understanding as Triggers of Stunting in Children

Illustration of children (Freepik)

JAKARTA - Stunting is still a serious health problem in children in Indonesia. This condition interferes with children's growth and development due to chronic malnutrition and repeated infections, which affects their quality of life.

Handling stunting is very complex, because the cause is not only from the lack of intake of nutritious food. The economic condition of the family to the lack of understanding of parents related to nutrition is also a trigger for stunting in children.

"Underweight (one of the signs of stunting) can be due to poverty, can be due to low birth weight, then low birth weight. So, if nutrition is a complex problem," said Professor of Food and Nutrition at IPB University, Prof. Ali Khomsan, during a media meeting in Kebayoran, Jakarta, written Friday, March 6, 2026.

The condition of underweight or underweight in children if not immediately addressed will make the possibility of stunting higher. The child's health condition since birth also has an influence on the child's nutritional status during growth.

Handling related to low weight can be difficult because the family's economic limitations affect parents in providing nutritious food for children, especially animal protein sources which usually have a higher price.

Prof. Ali also highlighted the importance of parents understanding the nutritional needs of children to prevent stunting. He said that there are still some people who have not fully understood the types of food that children need to support their growth.

"In the East, even children can only eat with soup. And that is already a part that they consider enough," he said.

In fact, this eating pattern is not able to meet the daily nutritional needs of children who are in the growth period. They need foods rich in animal protein, vegetable protein, vegetables and fruits, to nutritious snacks.

Therefore, education regarding family nutrition is considered to be one of the important steps in efforts to prevent stunting. Good understanding of children's nutritional needs is expected to help parents provide more nutritious and balanced food.

In addition, if the child can choose the food, then parents must still ensure that the food is nutritious. With adequate nutritional intake from an early age, children are expected to grow and develop optimally, and reduce developmental disorders due to stunting.