PREVENTION OF STUNTING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD THROUGH EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (PAUD) INSTITUTION IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Early childhood development and growth are confronted with various challenges and risks, especially in developing countries, such as Indonesia. One such challenge is       the stunting. Stunting is defined as a condition in which an individual has a growth disability, such as a shorter height, compared with individuals of the same age. The establishment of early childhood education (PAUD) programs is an alternative for handling and preventing stunting that occurs during early childhood in Indonesia. This study aims to systematically identify  early childhood education programs to reduce the prevalence of stunting in Indonesian. This research was conducted through a systematic literature review. Various references were collected from online databases including namely Harzing's Publish or Perish, Science Direct (sciencedirect.com), Elcit (elicit.org), and Google Scholar (scholar.google.com). The keywords used were "early childhood education,” "literature review,” "stunting”,” and "health education” .” Based on the results of the literature review, this study found that early childhood education plays an important role in preventing stunting, and that PAUD can provide education to families in these countries so that they can maximally monitor and provide balanced nutrition to their children to avoid stunting, go through a good development period, and become the golden generation to advance their respective countries.  Alternative research has been discussed as an effort to prevent one of the biggest problems in improving the QoL (quality of life) of Indonesian children.

Keywords: early childhood education, literature review, stunting, health education