REPUBLIKA KIDS -- Hallo Kids... Malnutrition is defined as a deficiency, excess or imbalance of nutritional intake. Malnutrition in childhood can have a variety of long-term effects, including weaknesses in physical, cognitive and psychological performance and also causes stunting.

According to WHO (2015), stunting is a disruption in the growth and development of children due to chronic malnutrition and recurrent infections, which is characterized by their body length or height being below standard. Furthermore, according to WHO (2020) stunting is short or very short based on length/height according to age which is less than -2 standard deviation (SD) on the WHO growth curve which occurs due to irreversible conditions due to inadequate nutritional intake and/or recurrent infections/ chronic disease that occurs within 1000 HPK.

However, not all short toddlers are stunted, so pediatricians need to differentiate them. But stunted children are definitely short.

Stunting is a condition in which a child's height is shorter than other children the same age due to prolonged malnutrition. Stunted is a condition where a person is short or stunted, usually due to hormonal or genetic factors, in contrast to stunting.

The main cause of stunting is the lack of nutritional intake in the fetus while still in the womb. This can be overcome by providing balanced nutrition in the next life, namely childhood. The impact of stunting includes disturbances in brain development, impaired intelligence, physical growth disorders and metabolic disorders.

Childhood is the right time to build a better diet. In addition to causing stunting, stunting can also cause incomplete brain development which results in stunted cognitive development and IQ of the child.

Stunted children have IQs that are 5-10 points lower than normal children, and Indonesia is in the 5th position with the most people with stunting in the world. This is of course a concern because children are the nation's successor generation who are the hope for the ideals and goals of the Indonesian nation.

The following are ways to prevent stunting in children....