Empowering Weekly Iron-Folic Acid (Wifa) Supplementation Program For Adolescent School Girls In High Stunting Areas

Abstract

The WIFA (Weekly Iron-Folic Acid) supplementation program for adolescent school girls is mainly allocated in regencies where they are found as locusts of stunting. Adolescence presents a second window of opportunity for establishing healthy lifelong nutrition. Adolescents are vulnerable to undernutrition because their rapid growth raises their nutritional needs. In 2018, 32% of Indonesian adolescents in Indonesia suffered from anemia (MoH 2018). Iron-folic acid (IFA) supplementation is an intervention given to pregnant women and adolescent girls to reduce the prevalence of anemia among pregnant women and adolescent girls. It is one of the efforts to accelerate the alleviation of stunting in Indonesia as an integrated stunting reduction intervention. Increasing stunting awareness among schoolgoing adolescents through optimization of the implementation of WIFA supplementation is the potential way to induce behavioral change in improving lifelong nutrition and health to overcome stunting. The objectives of this study were: (1) to assess the knowledge of adolescent school girls regarding the causes and consequences of anemia and the benefit of WIFA supplementation, (2) to assess the attitude of adolescent school girls regarding the prevention of anemia and the WIFA supplementation program, (3) to explore the reasons the WIFA supplementation is needed among adolescent school girls, (4) to assess the consumption of iron source foods, vitamin C source foods (enhancing iron absorption) and tannin source foods (inhibiting iron absorption) among adolescent school girls, (5) to assess the knowledge and attitude of parents regarding anemia in adolescence and WIFA supplementation. A situational analysis was conducted in five high schools in Tasikmalaya and five high schools in Ciamis, West Java Province, Indonesia. The selection of high schools was made purposively based on the recommendation from Education and Health Regency Offices. The research was conducted in July-September 2022. ...