Hubungan antara Status Gizi Balita dengan Pendidikan dan Pekerjaan Orang tua - Louisa Ariantje Langi (Majalah Kedokteran UKI, 2010)
Abstrak Ribuan balita di Nusa Tenggara Timur, wilayah Indonesia bagian Timur, masih mengalami kekurangan gizi. Dampak dari kekurangan gizi pada balita dapat memperlambat pertumbuhan fisik yang terlihat pada pemeriksaan antropometri seperti tinggi badan, berat badan, lingkar lengan atas, lingkar kepala, lingkar dada dan jaringan lunak. Selain itu juga dapat menghambat perkembangan mental, kecerdasan dan akan meningkatkan angka kesakitan serta kematian. Berdasarkan penelitian cross sectional selama Januari–Juni 2008 di Desa Billa Kecamatan Timur Tengah Selatan, dari 100 anak balita yang diperiksa status gizinya ditemukan 34 diantaranya kurang gizi (34%) dan 16 gizi buruk (16%). Faktor faktor penyebab gizi buruk bermacam macam. Penelitian telah dilakukan untuk melihat apakah faktor pendidikan ayah dan faktor pendidikan ibu memiliki hubungan dengan kejadian anak anak mereka yang mengalami status gizi buruk. Selain itu, juga telah diteliti hubungan pekerjaan ayah dan pekerjaan ibu dengan anak mereka. Hasil penelitian membuktikan ada hubungan antara pendidikan dan pekerjaan orang tua dengan status gizi buruk anak mereka. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian ini, maka balita gizi kurang dan gizi buruk tersebut harus segera ditanggulangi agar tidak terjadi generasi yang hilang di bumi Indonesia. Kata kunci: Balita, Antropometri, gizi kurang, gizi buruk Abstract Thousands of toddlers in East Nusa Tenggara, the Eastern part of Indonesia, still suffer from malnutrition. The malnutrition condition retard the toddlers’physical growth, which could be detected on the anthropometry measurement, such as the height, weight, length of the upper body, size of the head, size of the chest and soft tissue, This condition even affect the development of the brain and mentality. Furthermore, intelligent is also affected. Then, the risk of infection increased and the death rate augment. These data are based on the research done between January and June 2008 in the village of Billa, a district of East Nusa Tenggara. Out of 100 toddlers studied, 34 of them were under nourished (34%) and 16 were in critical malnourished (16%). There are varies factors cause malnourishment. A research was done to investigate whether there is a correlation between the mothers and the fathers’ education with the percentage of malnourished infants. In addition, an investigation was done to study the correlation between mothers and fathers’ occupation with the malnourishment condition of their toddlers. The result showed a correlation between the parents education and occupation to their malnourished infants. Based on this research the under nutrition toddlers and the malnourished need to be handled soon, in order to avoid a lost Indonesian generation. Key words: toddlers, anthropometry, undernourished, malnourished