Abstract

Malnutrition is the cause of death of about 55% of children under the age of five worldwide. A critical period happen on children aged between 6 and 24 months because those ranges of age groups indicate extremely serious condition regarding their growth. The objective of this research was to identifyrisk factors for the occurrence of malnutrition on children between 6 and 24 months at the Health Center of Kembaran I, Banyumas Regency as an effort to develop a model for controlling them. This research used a case control design with a retrospective approach towards eighty-six children. Data was analyzed using univariate, bivariate and multivariate (logistic regression) methods The risk factors that influenced to the occurrence of malnutrition were the use of health services (odds ratio, OR = 12,5); infectious diseases (OR = 4,04); eating pattern (OR = 4,8); and family income (OR = 5,8). As a suggestion, to improve a nutrition status on children, it needs to increase roles of an integrated services post and roles of mothers as efforts to prevent infectious diseases and socialize balanced nutrition menu to achieve a child's growth and development optimally.