ABSTRACT
To assess the impact of nutrition advice given to mothers of under five children. Settings: Three Anganwari centre areas in village Domana (rural field practice area of Postgraduate Department of Community Medicine, Government Medical college, Jammu). Study Design: Longitudinal study. Participants: 206 under five children (134 males and 72 females). Methodology: Three Anganwari centre areas selected by simple random sampling and a total of 206 under five children enrolled for the study by house to house visit. 43 children having varying degrees of malnutrition as per IAP criteria were followed longitudinally for a period of one year through monthly home visits. Episodes of illness and weight was recorded every month and plotted on growth chart. Results: The prevalence of malnutrition was 28.87%. Majority were having Grade I malnutrition. Post intervention results revealed that nutrition education in mothers had a positive effect on the nutritional status of their children.
ABSTRACT
Children under five years of age constitute approximately 15% of the country's total population and are the most vulnerable section of the society and suffer from highest morbidity. A Prospective study was conducted to find out the magnitude of morbidity in under five children in rural area and its association with various socio-environmental factors. 206 under-fives (134 Males & 72 Females) were followed monthly for a period of one year. The annual incidence rate of morbidity (Acute spells of illness) was 4.6 episodes /child /year. The leading causes of morbidity in decreasing order of incidence were - acute respiratory infections, diarrheal diseases, skin infections and fever. Episodes of illness were observed more during infancy, in females, malnourished and in children living in over-crowded and poorly ventilated houses. An inverse relationship of the morbidity and socio-economic status of the families was also observed. However, no association of morbidity was observed with parental literacy, location of Kitchen, type of excreta disposal and Infant feeding practices.