Nutritional status of Children under Five Years of Age in a Rural Area of Pondicherry

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Malnutrition among children below 5 years hasserious long-term consequences. Three out of every 10 stuntedchildren in the world are in India. The objective of the studywas to assess malnutrition among under five years children ina rural community.Material and Methods: A community based cross-sectionalstudy was undertaken to assess the nutritional status ofchildren below 5 years by anthropometry. Weight for age,height for age and weight for height was calculated usingWHO growth standards.Results: The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wastingin the study population 18.3%, 31.6% and 20.1% respectively.Proportion of moderate and severe underweight and wastingwas highest in the age group of 11-23 months while proportionof moderate and severe stunting was highest in the age groupof 48-59 months.Conclusions: Malnutrition is a common problem in childrenbelow 5 years of age, especially chronic malnutrition