The Story of a Mother in Ngawi Combating Stunting Through Sun Soup

A steaming bowl of soup sits before Novi. Its colour is bright, its contents hearty, and the aroma of chicken broth mixed with moringa leaves wafts gently through the room. That morning, at a nutrition post in Ngawi Regency, East Java, the young woman sits not just to eat. She arrives carrying the worries of a mother-to-be, with a fragile pregnancy, and the hope that her baby will be born healthy and of sufficient weight. Novi is one of the pregnant women at risk of Chronic Energy Deficiency (KEK), a condition marked by an upper arm circumference of less than 23.5 centimetres. This seemingly small figure hides significant consequences, namely the potential to give birth to a low birth weight baby, which is one of the early risk factors for stunting. The menu served before her that morning is called “Sun Soup”. Its name is poetic, its contents simple yet thoughtfully prepared: carrots, potatoes, chicken meat, chicken liver, duck eggs, patin fish, and moringa leaves that grow easily in residents’ backyards. The soup is the creation of volunteers from the Pos Gizi Dapur Sehat Atasi Stunting nutrition post, and it is one of seven healthy menus prepared there. “As a pregnant woman, I am helped. The demonstrated cooking can be practised by me,” said Novi. At the nutrition post, Novi is not only served ready-made food. She is also taught how to cook it herself, so that nutritional improvement does not stop at the post’s dining table but continues in her own home kitchen. Addressing from the Upstream Novi’s story is one of many that illustrate how stunting works silently, long before a child is born into the world. The issue often does not stem from food scarcity, but frequently begins with eating habits and the health conditions of adolescent girls as future mothers. This is where the problem often escapes attention. Adolescent girls, who will later conceive and give birth, often do not realise the risks they carry. Anaemia, for example, is still considered a normal condition that does not need serious treatment. Hotmianida Panjaitan, Programme Manager of PASTI WVI, said that education with a special approach is an urgent need to reach this group. Especially to foster awareness of the importance of nutritional intake from adolescence, so that the risk of giving birth to stunted babies in the future can be prevented earlier. PASTI WVI itself is an initiative designed to accelerate the reduction of stunting through community empowerment. One entry point is introducing anaemia and its impacts on maternal and fetal health. Untreated anaemia can result in inadequate energy and nutrient intake during pregnancy, which ultimately disrupts fetal growth and development, and even triggers stunting in children later on.