Abstract
The objective of this cross-sectional study was to determine whether health-center performance was related to children's nutritional status. Two stages of sampling were used. The first stage used simple random sampling of a finite population, in which 37 out of 100 health centers were selected. The second stage used comparison of two proportions, in which 254 children between 6 and 36 months old were selected from three health centers in the high-performance and three health centers in the low-performance groups. Health-center performance in Bandung District was low (< 61%). Staff capability was the major factor influencing health-center performance and the quality of nutritional service. Performance scores (45.2% for the low-performance group and 60% for the high-performance group) in the two groups of health centers were not positively related to the children's nutritional status (p > .05). The low contribution of health centers to the children's nutritional status was due to a low coverage of health services and similar socioeconomic status of the households.