The relationship between environmental sanitation of family and stunting among under-five children: A cross-sectional study in the public health center of Jember, Indonesia

Unhealthy environmental sanitation contributes to stunting among under-five children that correlated several factors, such as the house components, sanitation facilities, and behavior of poor food sanitation hygiene. This study aims to identify the relationship between family and stunting's environmental sanitation among under-five children in the Public Health Center in Indonesia.

Methods & Materials: 

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 393 families with under-five children in the public health center of Panti of Jember district, East Java of Indonesia, using consecutive sampling from December 2019 to January 2020. A self-administered questionnaire was used to measure participants’ characteristics and environmental sanitation. A Chi-square test was used to analyze the data.

Among 67.2% of families were unhealthy environmental sanitation. Meanwhile, children who suffer from stunting were 56.2%. There was a significant correlation between environmental sanitation of family and stunting among under-five children (χ2=38,440; p <0,001), The environmental sanitation of family had 0.254 times for a chance of stunting among under-five children (OR= 0.254; 95% CI= 0.163-0.397).

The family’s unhealthy environmental sanitation of family is a relationship with stunting among under-five children. Improving healthy environmental sanitation should be maintained by involving the family to fulfill under-five children’s nutrition requirement based on height for age.