Community-level determinants of child growth in an Indonesian tea plantation

Objectives: The paper presents the results of an ecological-economic approach to identifying community-level factors that influence the physical growth of young children. Design: A cross-sectional design was used to obtain both the anthropometry and the ecological-economic data. Setting: The sites were 24 communities located in a tea plantation near Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. Subjects: 415 children between the ages of 6 and 18 months. Methods: Epidemiological and ethnographic methods were used to measure community infrastructure and services related to child growth. Anthropometry was used to measure child growth. Econometric methods, including probit and ordinary least squares regression, were used to analyze the effect of community-level factors on child growth. Results: Community vaccination programs, child care services, environmental sanitation and latrines were associated with better child growth. We concluded that community-level goods and services substantially contributed to health in early childhood.