A study on nutritional status of Anganwadi children in a rural area of North Kerala

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition being the biggest contributor to child mortality and morbidity is highly prevalent among preschool children in India. The state of Kerala which tops the list in most of the health indicators in India is no exception to wide prevalence of malnutrition in children. Objective: To assess the nutritional status of Anganwadi children aged 2-5 years in a rural area of North Kerala. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was done among Anganwadi children between 2 and 5 years of age from January 2013 to March 2013 at Cheruthazham, Kannur district of Kerala. Cluster sampling method was used for the study. Height and weight of the children were measured using the standard anthropometric equipment, and body mass index was calculated. Data were analyzed by SPSS version 17, Microsoft Excel 2007. Results: In accordance with the WHO criteria, 14.6% of children were underweight; 10.6% stunted and 16.6% were wasted. Underweight, stunting, and wasting were most prevalent in 2-3-year-old children and minimum among 3-4-year-old children. Underweight and wasting were more prevalent among female children than their male counterparts. Stunting was more in male children. Conclusion: Results of the present study showed that the nutritional status of the children in studied population was good comparing with other studies. Nutrition, health education and good access, and utilization of healthcare can be very effective interventions which could result in substantial reduction in undernutrition in children.

Nutritional assessment of under five children in a rural belt of southern Rajasthan,India

“…In different studies conducted by Sukla P et al [20] at Chhattisgarh, Singh H et al [26] in tribal district of Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh and Chakravarthy KB et al (2015) [27] in Andhra Pradesh found the prevalence rate of stunting between 27.40% to 35.50% which were similar to the present study. In another study done by Radhamani KV et al [23] found the prevalence rate of stunting as 10.60% which is very low when compared to the present study. The reason for higher prevalence of stunting in the present study may be because of poor diet intake and repeated infections among the children.…”

“…Similar findings were observed by other studies conducted by Sukla P et al [20] at Chhattisgarh, Mamulwar MS et al [21] in Pune and Islam S et al [22] in a tribal area of Dibrugarh district of Assam which found the prevalence rate of underweight between 29.00% to 36.00% respectively. While in contrast, the study done by Radhamani KV et al [23] showed the prevalence rate of underweight as 14.60% at North Kerala. The higher prevalence of underweight in the present study could be due to low literacy level of the mothers.…”

“…The low BMI was found in 36.53% of tribal children and 26.10% of non-tribal children. The various studied done by Chakravarthy KB et al [27], Radhamani KV et al [23], Prinja S et al [28] and Mamulwar MS et al [21] found the prevalence rate of wasting between 16.10% to 16.90% respectively.…”

A socio-demographic study on prevalence of undernutrition among pre-school children, under Rural Health Center, Santhiram Medical College, Nandyal, Andhra Pradesh

“…In our study girls found to be more in number compared to boys similar to the study done by Radhamani et al The majority of children were falling in age group 3-4 yrs. 6 In the present study mothers who were illiterate and unemployed, who had children suffering from under nutrition and also were falling in class-4 and class-5. 7 According to BG Prasad classification which is significant in relation to Under Nutrition with p<0.05.…”

Nutrition and Health Status of Children of Government Schools in Rural Areas of Hassan District

“…In India, according to the findings of Hunger and Malnutrition survey by Anonymous (2012) in 112 districts across nine states of the country has revealed that 42.3% children under the age of five years are underweight, 58.8% are stunted and 11.4 % are wasted. Radhamani and Rajeev (2017) reported that underweight, stunting, and wasting were most prevalent in 2-3-yearoldchildren and minimum among 3-4-year-old children. Elizabeth (2010) reported that nutritional problems among children cause major morbidity and mortality in India.…”