Increasing Knowledge Through Nutrition Education in Adolescents and Children in Klaten, Indonesia

Food insecurity continues to plague over 840 million people all over the world. Food insecurity can lead to malnutrition which can result in long-term adverse health effects. Malnutrition has the highest impact on mothers and children living in developing countries as most families are living on less than two U.S. dollars a day. In order to provide enough food, low-income families rely on inexpensive foods, which are often lacking in essential nutrients. More developed countries can provide food aide in the form of commodities or therapeutic foods, but this is only a temporary fix to a continuous problem. The long-term solution for fighting malnutrition and food insecurity lies within local food sources along with nutrition education. The Nutrition Education Ending Malnutrition (NEEM) organization provides nutrition education to villages in developing countries with an emphasis on local food sources. The purpose of this project is to increase knowledge through nutrition education in adolescents and children to help decrease food insecurity in Indonesia. The organization created education materials and presented to a local high school and created nutrition activities to play with children at a local reading house in Klaten, Indonesia. The objective of the study is to determine the acceptance of the NEEM education materials on both the adolescent and children participating in nutrition activities. The project will help NEEM by creating education material for the organization and adding to the literature on the impact nutrition education has on children and adolescents in developing countries. The high school presentation was delivered using a Power-point presentation focusing on basic nutrition, food safety and sanitation, permaculture and gardening, and environmental awareness and sustainability. The reading house activities consisted of interactive nutrition games with a focus on food identification to help the children learn the English name of the foods, their colors, and their food groups. The project revealed the education materials were accepted by both the adolescent group and the children group and received high participation in both nutrition activities