Karakteristik dan Status Gizi Balita di DesaTianyar Barat, Kecamatan Kubu, Kabupaten Karangasem Pada Tahun 2012

The prevalence of undernourished children in West Tianyar Village, Kubu subdistrict of Karangasem, Bali, was still high and still becoming significant issue to be addressed in public health program of the local public health center (Puskesmas). This survey was aimed to identify the recent nutritional status of under 5 year children and its distribution based on characteristics and knowledge of their mother or carer. This study was conducted in West Tianyar Village from July to August 2012, by applying a cross-sectional descriptive design. Sixty children were examined for their nutritional status and their mother or carer was interviewed. There were no under-nourished children were found based on the antropometric examination among samples, where 91.5% of the children had a normal weight and 8.5% were over-weight. Despite the good nutritional status of the children, 60% of the mother or carer had a poor level of knowledge regarding nutrition for children. The proportion of children who were given complementary foods before and after the age of 6 months was similar (49.1% and 50,9% respectively). There were higher proportion of children from a lower income family (55%) as compared to the children who were from higher income family (45%). Among the samples, the proportion of children who were taken care by their mother were almost similar to those who were taken care by the other family members (50.85% and 49.15% respectively). All in all, although the nutritional status is good among under 5 children, the knowledge of mothers/caregivers should be improved mainly in starting complementary food for under 5 children.