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Stunting is a chronic nutritional problem that has long-term impacts on the quality of human resources in Indonesia, particularly in Pemalang Regency, Central Java. The government has implemented various nutrition intervention policies, one of which is the Free Nutritious Meal Program (MBG) as an effort to improve the nutritional status of the population, especially school-age children, toddlers, and pregnant women. This study aims to analyze the policy of the Free Nutritious Meal Program (MBG) as a nutrition intervention instrument in stunting prevention. This research uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive-analytical method. Data were collected through interviews, observations, and documentation involving informants from the Health Office, Education Office, schools, health workers, posyandu cadres, and beneficiary communities. Data analysis was conducted using the Miles and Huberman interactive model, which includes data reduction, data display, and conclusion drawing. The validity of the data was tested through source and method triangulation The results show that the MBG program has a positive impact in improving community access to nutritious food, enhancing children’s dietary patterns, and increasing parents’ nutrition awareness. The program also strengthens cross-sector collaboration between local government, schools, and health facilities in efforts to reduce stunting. However, the implementation of the program still faces several challenges, such as limited supervisory personnel, budget constraints, uneven distribution, and low nutrition literacy among the community. In addition, the effectiveness of the program in significantly reducing stunting rates still requires long-term evaluation due to the multidimensional nature of stunting determinants. In conclusion, the Free Nutritious Meal Program has strong potential as a nutrition intervention policy instrument in stunting prevention in Pemalang Regency. However, its success largely depends on strengthening governance, cross-sector coordination, capacity building, and policy sustainability. Therefore, integration with other health and social intervention programs is needed to achieve optimal stunting reduction.

Background: Stunting remains one of the public health problems that requires early prevention through health education and growth monitoring in children under five years old. Lack of parental knowledge regarding balanced nutrition, child feeding practices, hygiene, and routine physical examination can increase the risk of growth disorders in toddlers. Purpose: Physical examination in toddlers is important to identify early signs of growth and developmental problems, including body weight, height or length, nutritional status, and general physical condition. Method: This community service activity was conducted face-to-face using health education, discussion, and direct physical examination methods. The stages of activity included preparation, delivery of educational materials about stunting, physical examination of toddlers, recording the results, and providing simple counseling to parents. Results: The activity showed that mothers were enthusiastic in participating in counseling and toddler physical examination. Before the education was given, several mothers still had limited understanding about the causes, impacts, and prevention of stunting. After the activity, mothers began to understand the importance of balanced nutrition, routine weighing, height measurement, immunization, hygiene, and regular visits to posyandu or health facilities. Conclusion: Education about stunting and physical examination of toddlers can increase parental awareness regarding early prevention of growth disorders. This activity is useful in encouraging families to monitor toddler growth regularly and implement healthy childcare practices.

Child marriage remains a significant issue negatively impacting the health and quality of the younger generation, particularly through the increased risk of stunting in children. This article discusses the results of an educational outreach titled “Marriage Is Not Just About Legality: Legal Education on Marriage Dispensation and Its Implications for Stunting Prevention Among Students,” conducted at SMA Negeri 3 Parepare. The outreach aimed to raise students’ awareness about the relationship between minimum marriage age, marriage dispensation, and the health impacts on children, especially the risk of stunting. The methods employed included deconstruction, brainstorming, material delivery, reconstruction, and evaluation through pre-test and post-test assessments. Results demonstrated a significant improvement in students’ understanding from both medical and legal perspectives. The discussion focused on analyzing the contradictory legal norms regarding minimum marriage age and marriage dispensation, which frequently lead to implementation challenges. This outreach underscores the importance of integrating legal education and reproductive health as a preventive strategy to reduce child marriage and prevent stunting. Consequently, the program contributes to shaping a healthy, legally aware younger generation capable of making mature and responsible marriage decisions.

This Community Service (PKM) activity aims to improve the performance of Posyandu cadres in stunting prevention efforts in Kepudibener Village, Turi District, Lamongan Regency. The main problems faced by the community include low health literacy, suboptimal utilization of Posyandu, and limited capacity of cadres in providing health education. The implementation method uses a participatory and educational approach through the stages of observation, cadre training, health education, mentoring, and program evaluation. The results of the activity show an increase in the knowledge and skills of Posyandu cadres in monitoring child growth and development and nutrition education, increased community participation in Posyandu activities, and an increase in understanding of mothers of toddlers regarding stunting prevention. This program is also able to strengthen the role of cadres as agents of change in raising community awareness of the importance of family health. Thus, improving the performance of Posyandu cadres has proven effective in supporting community-based stunting prevention efforts. Sustainability of the program through ongoing training and mentoring is essential to maintain the positive impacts that have been achieved.

This community service program aims to strengthen the strategic role of Posyandu (Integrated Health Post) as a center for family health education through the innovation of its educational functions. Previously, Posyandu operations in the community tended to be limited to routine basic health services, such as weight monitoring and nutritional status recording, while the crucial aspect of health education remained suboptimal. This limitation has contributed to a lack of public understanding regarding healthy lifestyles and the prevention of chronic diseases or stunting. The methods implemented in this program included problem identification through observation, health socialization and education, specialized training for Posyandu cadres to enhance their communication capacity, and direct mentoring during activity implementation. The results demonstrated a significant increase in family knowledge regarding balanced nutrition and clean and healthy living behaviors (PHBS). Furthermore, Posyandu cadres became more active and skilled in delivering health information communicatively to the community. This program demonstrates that by strengthening its educational function, Posyandu can transform into an effective and sustainable family health learning center, significantly impacting the improvement of community health standards at the frontline level.

This study aims to analyze the implementation of cross-sector education based on community participation as an effort to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Watangsono Village, Wonogiri. This research employed a descriptive qualitative approach by collecting data through participatory observation, documentation, and Focus Group Discussions (FGD) involving key stakeholders in the village. The results show that the implementation of cross-sector educational programs covering education, health, economy, and environment has a significant impact on improving community knowledge, skills, and awareness. Community participation was reflected through active involvement in various practical activities, such as anti-bullying education, digital literacy training, stunting prevention through local food processing, herbal plant utilization, natural pesticide production, family health massage practices, and strengthening local economic capacity. The participatory and applicative approach encourages two-way knowledge transfer and strengthens community capacity in managing local resources sustainably. Despite challenges such as limited resources and time constraints, the program demonstrates positive contributions to supporting SDGs achievement at the village level. Therefore, cross-sector education based on community participation can serve as an effective strategy in empowering rural communities and fostering sustainable development.

Stunting remains a major nutritional problem in Indonesia, impacting the quality of children's growth and development, both in the short and long term. This impact not only affects physical growth but also affects children's endurance and future productivity. Although the national prevalence of stunting shows a downward trend, cases of stunting are still found in various regions, including Banyusari Village, Tegalrejo District. The stunting problem in this region is closely related to parents' low understanding of fulfilling balanced nutrition, especially protein intake, which plays a crucial role in the growth and development of toddlers. This community service activity aims to increase parents' knowledge and awareness in stunting prevention efforts through applicable nutrition education. The activity was carried out by students of the Community Service Program (KKN) of Tidar University. The method used was a socialization method of presenting material on stunting prevention combined with fun cooking practices as a learning medium for serving balanced nutritious meals. In addition, this activity was also accompanied by the provision of Supplementary Food (PMT). The results of the activity showed that participants participated enthusiastically and were able to understand the material presented. The educational approach of fun cooking has been deemed effective in increasing parents' understanding of balanced nutrition and encouraging a shift in mindset from the "just to get full" paradigm to ensuring quality nutrition. This activity is expected to become a practical and sustainable alternative for nutrition education in supporting community-based stunting prevention efforts.    

Indonesia continues to face a significant burden of stunting that seriously impacts human resource quality and national development. Stunting is defined as a condition of chronic linear growth failure in children under five years, characterized by height-for-age below minus two standard deviations (−2 SD) from the WHO Child Growth Standards median, resulting from prolonged nutritional deficiency during the first 1,000 days of life. Indonesia's national stunting prevalence in 2022 remained at 21.6%, far from the 2024 national target of 14%. This community service activity aimed to improve the knowledge of pregnant mothers and mothers with toddlers regarding the definition, causative factors, impacts, and prevention strategies of stunting in Banyumas Village, Stabat District, Langkat Regency, in 2025. A community-based participatory intervention approach with a pre-post single group design was employed, incorporating interactive health counseling, group discussion sessions, anthropometric examination of toddlers, and pre-test and post-test knowledge assessments using a validated questionnaire. Participants consisted of 21 pregnant mothers and mothers with toddlers, with 7 toddlers undergoing anthropometric examination. Results demonstrated a significant increase in the mean knowledge score from 55.24 (pre-test) to 82.38 (post-test), reflecting an improvement of 27.14 points. Anthropometric examination identified 1 out of 7 toddlers (14.3%) as having poor nutritional status based on the height-for-age index. Beyond measurable knowledge gains, the activity successfully promoted perceptual change among participants, fostered the active role of local health cadres as community change agents, and cultivated collective awareness regarding the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration in stunting prevention efforts. It is recommended that posyandu cadres actively sustain the 1,000 HPK counseling program on a continuous basis, and that the institution develop more comprehensive follow-up community service programs in the target area.

Stunting is a major public health problem that reflects chronic malnutrition and adversely affects children’s physical growth, cognitive development, and future productivity. The first 1,000 days of life represent a critical window during which stunting develops and determines long-term health outcomes. This study aims to review evidence on the determinants of childhood stunting and the effectiveness of prevention interventions within public health policy frameworks in Indonesia.A literature review was conducted using peer-reviewed articles, policy documents, and national reports published in the last decade. The literature was analyzed to identify key risk factors, intervention strategies, and policy impacts on stunting reduc-tion.The findings show that stunting is primarily driven by inadequate dietary intake, low socioeconomic status, limited caregiver nutrition knowledge, and poor access to health and sanitation services. National data indicate a decline in stunting prevalence in Indonesia from 24.4% in 2021 to 21.6% in 2022. Evidence consistently highlights that integrated interventions targeting the first 1,000 days of life, including maternal nutrition improvement, breastfeeding promotion, appropriate complementary feeding, and multisectoral collaboration, are effective in reducing stunting.In conclusion, reducing childhood stunting requires sustained, integrated, and policy-based interventions that prioritize early-life nutrition to improve human capital and support long-term national development.

Stunting is a chronic nutritional problem that is still prevalent in the community and has long-term impacts on physical growth, cognitive development, and the quality of human resources. One effort to prevent stunting is through a community service-based nutrition education program. This activity aims to analyze the implementation of a nutrition education program as a stunting prevention effort in Pasar Rawa Village, Gebang District, Langkat Regency, North Sumatra. The method used was a descriptive qualitative approach with a community service approach. The target group included PKK mothers and local mothers with toddlers. The activity was carried out through the delivery of balanced nutrition education materials, an introduction to stunting, and a discussion and question-and-answer session. The results of the activity showed active participant participation and increased awareness of the importance of fulfilling children's nutritional needs. However, some mothers still did not fully understand the concept of stunting, and some toddlers still experienced stunting. Therefore, nutrition education needs to be carried out sustainably and integrated with other health programs.

Stunting remains a major chronic nutritional problem in Indonesia, including Aceh, and has serious impacts on children’s physical growth and cognitive development. Prevention efforts require appropriate, practical, and sustainable nutritional interventions, including the use of local foods such as pumpkin, which is rich in beta-carotene, vitamin A, carbohydrates, and fiber, and can be combined with animal and plant protein sources. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an instant pumpkin-based porridge in improving the weight and height of children aged 6–24 months who are at risk of stunting in the Gunung Meriah Health Center area. The study used a quasi-experimental design with a nonequivalent control group involving 41 children divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group received the instant porridge for 21 days. Data analyzed using paired t-tests and independent t-tests showed significant improvements in the intervention group’s weight and height (p<0.05). The pumpkin-based instant porridge proved effective as a local food–based nutritional intervention and has the potential to be integrated into supplementary feeding programs and regional nutrition policies with broader coverage and longer duration..