SEMARANG MUNICIPALITY

Since late 1997 Indonesia has been overwhelmed by monetary crisis and low income communities including fishermen received the worst impact of it. This study was intended to see whether there was a difference in food consumption and the nutritional status of the underfive years old children in the fishermen community before and during the crisis. Sixty three subjects were chosen by cluster random sampling method and were followed from June 1998 to August 1999. Food consumption data were gathered by weighing method for two days and food frequency questionnaires. Paired t-test was used in the analysis. The study revealed that the families income almost doubled, the food consumption was significantly increased in term of energy and protein. It was found that children have more frequent meal per day and more varieties of food eaten daily. The children’s weight and height increased in an average of 2.5 kg and 8.7 cm, respectively. The nutritional status in aggregate data showed an increase in height per age but slightly decrease in weight per age and weight per height indices but not statistically significant. By group analysis, more children had lower nutritional status in all indices. It is concluded that there were improvement in food consumption of the underfive years ol