Assessment of Nutritional Status of Under-5 Children in A Slum of Kolkata, West Bengal: A Community Based Study

Abstract

Background: The nutritional status of under-5 children in slums is an important health indicator for assessing the health status of entire population. Reduction in malnutrition is a Millennium Development Goal (MDG) to improve child welfare. The study was conducted to assess the nutritional status of under-5 children in a slum of Kolkata and its associated factors.Materials and Methods: It was an observational, cross-sectional study among under-5 children in a slum area of Kolkata, West Bengal, India to determine nutritional status and its determinants using WHO Z-score and Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF). A total of 129 under-5 children were included by simple random sampling. Data entry was done in SPSS. All ethical issues were addressed.Results: Out of total 129 children assessed, 31.8% were found to have anthropometric failure using CIAF. However, with standard anthropometric indices such as weight-for-age, weight-for-height, height-for-age, and mid upper arm circumference,17.8% were underweight, 9.3% were wasted, 16.3% were stunted and 14% were undernourished respectively. About 40.3% children had morbidity within last 2 weeks (acute respiratory infection 25.6%, diarrhoea 3.9%, fever 10.9%). Literacy of mother [AOR-3.79 (1.39-10.33)], exclusive breast feeding [AOR-6.1 (1.80-8.79)], personal hygienic practice [AOR-3.17 (1.02-10.02)] and morbidity profile [AOR-2.95 (1.13-7.72)] were significantly associated with nutritional status.Conclusion:The study identifies maternal education and care and infant and child feeding practices to have a bearing on the nutritional status of the children. Further large scale studies are warranted to determine the alleviation in the situation after addressing these factors.

Determinants of Severe Acute Malnutrition in under-five children in Dibrugarh District, Assam

“…Present study documented history of previous illness and severe acute malnutrition was significantly associated which is similar to findings observed in studies in Kolkata and Nepal. (20,26) Overall knowledge of AWWs regarding IYCF practices, SAM identification and management was better in our study as compared to other studies (21,22) which may be probably because the Anganwadi workers in the study area had remote supportive supervision of all the nutritional services before the study. (24) CONCLUSION Factors like type of family, low birth weight, mothers with less ANC visits, duration of exclusive breastfeeding, partial immunization and poor utilization of ICDS services are found to be associated with SAM of under-five children.…”