ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate malnutrition prevalence in children under five years-old in Tabasco, Mexico, during 1996, and their evolution in 1991-1996. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study, including 1,256 children under five years-old in 593 communities (31 urban and 562 rural) from 17 sanitary districts. RESULTS: The weight/age indicator for malnutrition in children under five years old showed 59% of children had normal nutrition and 41% with malnutrition, distributed as follows: 26.12% slight, 12.62% moderate and 2.39% severe. In children between 1-5 years old, malnutrition prevalence was 45%. CONCLUSIONS: The number of children with malnutrition in Tabasco during the study period (1991-1996) has decreased in proportion to the increase of those with normal nutrition. Based on the health system activities, the number of health districts with critical malnutrition indicators decreased from 6 to 4.
Subject(s)
Nutrition Disorders/epidemiology , Child, Preschool , Female , Humans , Infant , Male , Mexico/epidemiology , Prevalence , Rural Health/statistics & numerical data , Urban Health/statistics & numerical dataABSTRACT
Childhood malnutrition is an important and prevailing public health problem in Tabasco, Mexico, where precise information is still lacking. Tabasco Public Health Department has been working on this problem since 1991. The first nutritional survey was carried out to recognize the nutritional level of 935 randomly selected children between 1-4 years of age in 17 municipalities of the state. A proportion of 46% of childhood malnutrition level was found in this Mexican state (29.8 low, 12.8% moderate and 3.4% severe). Ninety percent of severe childhood malnutrition cases were located in the rural municipalities of Tacotalpa, Nacajuca, Jonuta, Macuspana and Centla. These municipalities were more affected, with a malnutrition prevalence of 63%, 62.2%, 60%, 59.5% and 59.4%, respectively. Results from these surveys identify high risk areas and may serve to advance specific proposals for nutrition interventions.
Subject(s)
Child Nutrition Disorders/epidemiology , Protein-Energy Malnutrition/epidemiology , Child, Preschool , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Infant , Infant Nutrition Disorders/epidemiology , Male , Mexico/epidemiology , Nutrition Surveys , Risk Factors , Rural Population , Urban PopulationABSTRACT
In view of the measles epidemic that affected the country, a resolution was taken to enlarge the extent of vaccination range in school age groups, which were the most affected in such epidemic. The vaccination with the aerosol method, allowed the optimization of the vaccine, the application time, and the human resources. There were 208,045 scholastics vaccinated in Tabasco, a survey was performed in the jurisdiction of Jalpa de Méndez with 6,738 vaccinated children in order to find out the postvaccination reactions a week after the vaccine was inhaled. It was found in 1,844 children, that there were different signs and symptoms that did not represent a risk for the application of the aerosol method.
