ICDS — is it the entitlement of every Indian child.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: To assess the extent of utilization of services by underthree & their mothers at AWC’s & to study the gender differences in availing the services . Methods: A cross- sectional study regarding the utilization of services by children (0-3 years) & their mothers among 11 Anganwadis in 8 villages registered under RHTC,HIHT Dehradun. The data was tabulated on Microsoft Excel sheet and analyzed using the software SPSS 17.0 for Windows. Results: Study findings showed that majority of underthree children i.e. 89.2% were enrolled in the AWCs whereas only 29.20 % went to AWCs to avail the combined benefits of vaccination, supplementary nutrition, healthcheckups followed by Immunization services(23.2%).63.55% children in the age group 0-3 years were attending the AWC to receive SN whereas only 22% of children were availing it regularly. Conclusion: The problems encountered at AWCs were under utilization of services due to lack of awareness of parents & insufficient motivation of AWW. There is a need to improve awareness about the services especially in the underthree age group so that eligible beneficiaries can avail them.