The Next Generation Plate: Developing an intervention with a co-creation approach for preventing nutritional anemia among adolescents in Indonesia.

Adolescent anemia continues to be a public health challenge, affecting adolescents. Prevalence is generally higher in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). In Indonesia, the prevalence is around 15.5%-16.3%. Anemia is largely driven by poor nutrition and low uptake of iron supplementation. Adolescents, especially girls, are at higher risk as a result of their nutritional intake, physical development, and menstruation. 

This project aims to address nutritional anemia among adolescents in Indonesia by developing an intervention through a co-creation approach. The study will be conducted in one of the regions of East Java, which has the highest prevalence (38.2%). Guided by Intervention Mapping, the study systematically combines stakeholder perspectives and scientific evidence to design a solution. Adolescents, parents, teachers, health workers, and policymakers are involved in identifying needs, in shaping and refining the intervention.

In the short term, the project strengthens stakeholder involvement and ownership. In the medium term, it builds local capacity and improves adolescents’ nutrition-related knowledge and behaviors through pilot implementation. In the long term, it delivers a scalable intervention that can be integrated into schools across Indonesia and LMICs.

The project team

The project is led by Kurnia Ramadhani, a PhD student in the Department of Health Sciences at the University Medical Center Groningen. It is supervised by Dr. Andrea F. de Winter, Prof. Dr. S.A. (Menno) Reijneveld, and Dr. Bas Geboers. The team collaborates with researchers from Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia (the Faculty of Public Health and the Faculty of Health, Medicine, and Natural Sciences). This brings together expertise in health promotion, nutrition, health technology, adolescent health, and community engagement.