Universitas Gadjah Mada’s students from Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing that joined Center for Indonesian Medical Students’ Activities (CIMSA) have educated kindergarten children and parents in the TK ‘Aisyiyah Bustanul Athfal (ABA) 2 kindergarten, in Gamping area of Somodaran, Sleman regency.
The event named as DELIGHT that run on 3 March aimed to give understanding to society related to nutrition for young children and raise awareness on the importance to lead a healthy life.
“Malnutrition cases in Indonesian young children are still high. Primary Health Research data 2013 stated in Jogja malnutrition case in young children was 8.9%. Health Problem Analysis data of Yogyakarta stated in 2015 the Sleman regency ranked third after Kulonprogo and Bantul in malnutrition cases in young children,” said a member of CIMSA, Dyah Puspaningtyas, on Monday (19/3). CIMSA is a semi-autonomous unity for students of medical education that runs projects based on data that can give positive impacts to society and themselves.
Dyah said they found data that many of the children had lower weight and height under the WHO standards. Hence, the medical education students aimed at involving the children and parents in this project.
“We hold interactive educational sessions on nutrition and cooking demo for parents, while the children join Small Group Discussion on eating and drinking habit,” she said.
As many as 33 children, 23 parents, and 4 teachers participated in the event. Lecturer Aviria Ermamilia, S.Gz., M.Gizi, RD educated the parents on balanced nutrition. On the other hand, the children were grouped into smaller groups of 4-5 people to discuss their diet and healthy diet, including the importance of eating fruit and vegetable. Afterwards, healthy food cooking was demonstrated to the parents while the children played games and colouring.
“The project is closed with a certificate presentation to the lecturer and students and a token presentation to the kindergarten. With the DELIGHT project, parents are expected to pay more attention to their children related to nutrition intake,” said Dyah.