West Java: Dompet Dhuafa’s Free Health Service (LKC) held a training event for volunteers from the Nutrition Center in Garut Regency. This training lasts for 2 (two) days, Tuesday-Wednesday (13-14/12/2022), at the Tirta Kencana Hotel, Tarogong Kaler, Garut Regency.
The series of opening events were also attended by dr. Yeni Purnamasari as GM Health Division of Dompet Dhuafa, Hj. Sri Prihatin as Kasie Kesga, and H. Yodi Sirodjudin, S.Apt., MH.Kes as Head of the Health Resources Section of the Garut District Health Office.
Participants in this training totaled 20 health workers consisting of 4 coordinating midwives, 12 village midwives, and four nutritionists. They came from 4 health centres: Guntur Health Center, Cibagendit Health Center, Pasundan Health Center, and Sukahurip Health Center.
In her remarks, Yeni said that this training aimed to reduce the prevalence of malnutrition in toddlers in Garut Regency. The Nutrition Base is one of the nutritional innovation programs to prevent stunting with an approach that allows changes in good nutritional behaviour. This approach has been going on for several years and has been proven to reduce malnutrition rates.
LKC Dompet Dhuafa‘s collaboration with the Garut Health Office has been running since 2018. Then it will continue in 2020; at that time, during the pandemic, it will also continue in 2021, and it is still going on now.
The results of the Nutrition Base Program data found that poverty was not the leading cause of malnutrition. Many low-income families have children who are healthy (with good nutrition) by applying good parenting. Improper feeding practices or parenting styles generally cause malnutrition. With the Hearth program, it is hoped that changing behaviour can overcome malnutrition.
The Nutrition Base Program has received appreciation from various parties. Yodi Sirodjudin said, “We appreciate and express our highest gratitude for carrying out today’s activities. The volunteers were terrific. Volunteers are people who have a sense of sincerity. Sincerity is what makes the scale of charity extraordinary.
According to him, stunting cases cannot be handled only by the Health Service because stunting has many relationships with other fields. Of course, community participation is essential, including social institutions such as Dompet Dhuafa.
In line with that, Sri Prihatin also hopes that this training will be one of the efforts that everyone desires. This effort to accelerate stunting reduction has 2 (two) convergences, namely specific and sensitive. This characteristic is the responsibility of the Department of Health and its staff. However, the Health Service needs help to work. Of course, cross-sector cooperation is required.
She also hopes that Base Nutrition can become a pilot project in Garut Regency that can be implemented in all villages in Garut Regency.
“We thank you for the umpteenth time cooperation in dealing with stunting cases in Garut Regency,” said Sri.
West Java Province is one of the priority provinces in accelerating stunting reduction. The reason is that this province has the highest number of stunted children under five in Indonesia. SSGI 2021 data states that the prevalence of stunting in West Java Province has reached 24.5 percent, slightly above the national average stunting rate of 24.4 percent. SSGI data also says out of 27 districts/cities in West Java, four districts/cities have a high stunting prevalence rate (30% -39.9%), and Garut Regency has the highest stunting data in West Java.
Yeni again added, especially in the health sector, Dompet Dhuafa has several program priorities. The first is the fulfilment of access to health insurance, namely, filling gaps in the existing national health insurance system. But in fact, there are still limitations in the field, so Dompet Dhuafa tries to participate.
The second is advocacy in the form of strategic partnerships for all parties, including the local government.
The third is community health empowerment. Dompet Dhuafa sees a role that can serve the community. In this case, the priority is a stunting management program that can be carried out with upstream intervention—like today- holding training for the nutrition base.
“Especially for the Nutrition Base program, this is an innovative program based on increasing knowledge and improving behaviour that has the results of together with a positive behavioural approach for the community,” concluded Yeni.
One of the participants, Tini Mariyani, S.S.T., Bd., a Pasundan Garut Community Health Center representative, explained why she was so enthusiastic about participating in this training. According to him, there is rarely training on stunting services specifically. Later, after completing the training, he will socialise the training materials he received with the team at the Pasundan Health Center. (Dompet Dhuafa / Muthohar)