Authors : Som Nath, Anju Gahlot, Pravin K Sinha, Manjusha Nath
DOI : 10.18231/j.ijfcm.2019.037
Volume : 6
Issue : 3
Year : 2019
Page No : 163-169
Introduction: Globally, there were 821 million undernourished people in 2017 (11% of the total population). Under nutrition is more common in developing countries. In India, even today, after six decades of independence and despite various initiatives, the condition of undernourished children remains a cause of concern in the country. Magnitude of the problem become clearer by our research on assessment of nutritional status of children aged 5-14 years in rural areas of Kanpur.
Materials and Methods: This is a cross sectional study conducted among 410 randomly selected children of age 5 to 14 years in the rural field areas of Rama medical College & Research Centre. Sample size 410 was calculated by using statistical formula n ? 4p q2/L. Data was collected and analyzed by using appropriate statistical software and tools.
Results: The education of the parents of study subjects and their nutritional status was found to be statistically significant (X2=15.66 P=0.001).The association between socioeconomic class of children and their nutritional status was found to be statistically significant (X2=10.284 p=0.016). Under weight children were found more in Joint Family 35%. Overall prevalence of underweight, stunting and thinness (BMI<-2SD) for age/sex among children were 27.8%, 22.9% and 22% respectively. Study also concluded that prevalence of under nutrition was found to be higher among females as compared to males.
Conclusion: The study shows undernourished children were found to be significantly associated with age, sex and education of the parents, socioeconomic class of the family and type of the family. It was significantly higher in females, age of puberty, children of uneducated mothers or of lower class family or belonging to joint family. Health education should be added in the school curriculum and it is needed to raise the maternal literacy particularly related to health care seeking behavior.
Keywords: Undernourished, Children of age 5-14 years, Underweight, Stunting, Thinness.