The main cause of stunting is long-term malnutrition. This condition has an impact on babies who are still in the womb, because the mother does not meet nutritional needs during pregnancy. Apart from malnutrition, stunting is also closely related to anemia as iron deficiency is one of the causes of stunting and most common in teenagers.
According to Lecturer in the Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Public Health (FKM), Universitas Indonesia (UI), Nurul Dina Rahmawati, S.Gz., M.Sc., one in four Indonesian teenage girls is anemic. If not treated properly, those who experience anemia will become pregnant women who are also anemic, thereby increasing the prevalence of stunting in the future.
To reduce the prevalence of anemia in adolescent girls in Lebak Regency, Banten, Nurul, together with team members from UI, provided education to students at SMKN 1 Kalanganyar about anemia and its impacts. In the activity that took place on Monday (27/11), the UI Service Team distributed the “Healthy Teenagers” module which contained several important materials.
The material in the “Healthy Teenagers” module covers several topics, including physical and psychosocial changes in adolescents; adolescent body growth and its consequences for nutritional needs; impact, causes and prevention of anemia; the importance of balanced nutritional food intake and a healthy lifestyle; the importance of consuming blood supplement tablets (TTD) for young women; as well as the importance of good nutritional status before marriage and the impact of early marriage.
Anemia is a nutritional problem characterized by low hemoglobin levels (<12 g/dL in young women and <13 mg/dL in young men). Symptoms of anemia can include feeling dizzy, weak, lethargic, pale face/eyelids, and even sunken nails if the condition is very severe. According to Basic Health Research (Riskesdas) in 2018, 26.8% of Indonesian children aged 5–14 years and 32% that aged 15–24 years suffer from anemia.
The prevalence of anemia in adolescent girls in Banten Province is above the national figure. Based on data from the Banten Provincial Health Service (2017), anemia among adolescent girls in the province was recorded at 37.1%. Although there is no specific data regarding the prevalence of anemia in each district, the prevalence of stunting in Lebak Regency is still high, namely 26.2% of the national prevalence of 21% in 2022.
This education is considered important because in the short term, anemia can cause a decrease in concentration in learning due to a lack of oxygen levels delivered to the muscles and brain. This has an impact on decreasing achievement and causes teenagers to be unfit. Meanwhile, in the long term, decreased concentration and achievement in teenagers can lead to reduced productivity, which leads to the potential of having low incomes as adults.
Apart from that, the condition of pregnant women who experience anemia can also hinder fetal development, in which the baby will be born prematurely with a low body weight and a short (small) body. This certainly increases the risk of stunting and impaired intelligence development in children, as well as raises the risk of death in mothers due to bleeding.
Nurul as Chair of the UI Service Team hopes that the program that has been implemented can continue. By involving school teachers, the School Health Unit, and the Youth Red Cross, a monitoring and evaluation process will be carried out to ensure the sustainability of the program.
“It is hoped that strong monitoring and evaluation efforts can increase awareness of young women, including regarding TTD consumption. Apart from that, with this education, it can hopefully motivate teenagers to improve their nutritional and health status for the sake of high productivity and competitiveness in the future,” said Nurul.
