Hemangini Gandhi

Background: The word ‘adolescence’ is derived from the Latin verb ‘adolescere’, which means “grow to maturity.” The World Health Organization (WHO) defines adolescents as young people aged 10-19 years. There are about 1.2 billion adolescents, a fifth of the world’s population. Nutrition is key to unlocking the potential of investment in the health of women, children and adolescents. Materials and Methods: After obtaining necessary permission from Vadodara Mahanagar Seva Sadan 250 unmarried adolescent girls aged 15-19 years were enrolled in the study. Data on Socio-Economic background (SES) for enrolled girls’ families, Weight and Height was collected using pre-tested semi structured questionnaire. Thinness was assessed using age and sex specific WHO cut-offs for BMI for age (5-19Y). Stunting was identified using WHO cut-offs for Height for age criteria. Findings: Mean age of the adolescent girls was 16.3 years. 62% of the adolescent girls were attending school. 70% of adolescent girls were belonging to reserve category (SC/ST/OBC). It was found that 15.2 % and 6.4% of the girls were moderately and severely thin respectively. Only 13.2 % adolescent girls had normal BMI for age. Prevalence of stunting was 80.8%. Thinness and stuntingin unmarried adolescent girls (15-19 years) of urban area is a cause of concern. Keywords: Adolescents, Thinness, Stunting, Anthropometry

Background: The "First 1000 Days" are a period of rapid physical growth and enhanced mental development that provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create lifelong health and intelligence. These first 1000 days of life prepare a child for good health for the rest of their life. Quality of Complementary food plays very important role in maintaining growth and development of young children. Materials and Methods: It was a University-NGO collaborative study so the study was conducted in the villages which comes under working of aatapi seva foundation in Jambusar block. In this study Jambusar block was purposively selected and the study was conducted in anganwadi centers of 5 villages where aatapi seva foundation is currently working. Total 232 children were enrolled in the study and data on Socio- economic status (HHs), Practices about Complementary feeding and three day 24 hour Dietary Recall. Nutrient gap analysis for 11 nutrients were carried out using RDA for children given by ICMR 2020 Results: The results of the study showed the all of the children had a percent nutritional deficit for all micronutrients. The energy deficit in 1-2 year old children was 48.8%, compared to 13.4% in the 6-12 month age group. Minimum meal frequency, dietary diversity, and acceptable diets were found to be 51 %, 71%, and 34%, respectively. Conclusion: It can be concluded that breast feeding practices and complementary feeding practices needs to be strengthen among young mothers. Energy deficit was seen in all the children. Nutrient gap was found for all the micronutrients in all the children.   Keywords: CONGA: Comprehensive nutrient gap analysis, ICDS: Integrated Child, Development Scheme, IYCF: Infant and Young Child Feeding, POSHAN Abhiyan

Background: About 635 tribal groups and subgroups including 75 primitive tribes live in India. Various nutritional deficiency diseases, proportion of malnourished children, anemia are high among tribal children. The wide spread illiteracy and lack of awareness regarding foods and Nutrition in tribal communities are one of the important contributing factors for dismal health in tribal communities. Investing in education and training for adolescents and young people is perhaps the single most promising action to improve quality of life of tribal children. Documentation of the tribal school going adolescent’s knowledge on foods and nutrition is scanty. There is a need to assess the scope for reinforcing knowledge of basics of foods and nutrition through school curriculum. Objective: The present study was planned to know whether the tribal school going adolescents have a basic idea of foods and nutrition or not. Materials and Methods: All the tribal adolescent children (n= 158) studying in 8th to 12th standards from a Government Ashramshala were enrolled for the study. Knowledge regarding basics of Foods and nutrition was assessed using pretested questionnaire. Data on health and nutrition topics in their curriculum was also assessed. Findings: The study revealed that less than half of the boys and girls could correctly define food, importance of balanced diet and consequences of an inadequate diet. Knowledge regarding definition of balanced diet, concept of healthy food, anemia and dietary sources of Iron was poor. Conclusion: Thus strategies need to be developed for promoting awareness regarding basics of foods and nutrition through integrating it in school curriculum Keywords: Tribal, School adolescents, Knowledge, Foods and Nutrition, School curriculum.

Introduction: People are at the core of sustainable development. Individual wellbeing is essential to sustaining the inter-generational gains in health, productivity and social engagement that underpin the sustainable development agenda. Recently, India stands with a population of 1.37 billion population in which Gujarat has population of 6.27 crores. (World Population Review 2019)11. Globally, one in three children under the age of 5 is stunted, wasted or overweight and, in some cases suffers from a combination of two of these forms of malnutrition. India comprises almost 13.1 per cent of child population aged 0-6 years. Manifestations of malnutrition emerge not only from food insecurity but also from poor child care and awareness towards it. The present paper is an attempt to review the status of IYCN practices and child’s malnutrition status in Gujarat. Materials and Methods: Using available NFHS data sheets and other comparable data sets, an attempt is made to understand the magnitude of undernutrition in children below 5 years. The paper is based on the secondary data from various published reports of the government of India. Main findings: Recently conducted NFHS - 4 provides data on children feeding practice and their Nutritional status. India accounted almost 43 per cent of children underweight against 47 percent in Gujarat. Over the years, feeding Practice like early initiation of breastfeeding within one hr of birth, exclusive breastfeeding and introducing complementary feeding with adequate diet was found to be better in Gujarat State as compared to India. Malnutrition among the children reduced significantly over the time, but still the number of undernourished children is very high in the state. Conclusion: There is a declining trend in nutritional status of undernutrition in children and improvement in IYCN practices in Gujarat, the concerns still remain for its pace as we need to achieve new targets of Rashtriya Poshan Abhiyan by 2022. The paper reinforces the need for state specific effective delivery and utilization of major government programmes and community participation to achieve targets of Rshtriya Poshan Abhiyan and SDGs at large. Keywords: Undernutrition, Feeding practices Child health, Rastriya Poshan Abhiyan, SDGs

Introduction: Anaemia is also a major public health problem in developing countries among school children. The prevalence among school age children ranges from 12-60% in the developing world. In school age children result of anaemia leads to resistance to disease, increased susceptibility of infection, poor cognitive development, poor school performance and reduced work capacity with impaired social and economic development of the country. Objectives: The broad objective was to assess the magnitude of Anaemia in primary school children in rural schools of Vadodara. Materials and Methods: A study was carried out in 4 government primary schools. Total 58 girls and 62 boys who gave written consent for the participation in the study were enrolled for the study. Haemoglobin estimation was carried out through standard method. Anaemia was classified using WHO classification (2011). Findings: The prevalence of anaemia among children was 56.6 % which was higher in girls (63.7%) as compared to boys (49.9%). It was found that mean haemoglobin levels were higher in elder boys age group (? 11.5 years). Result revealed that mean haemoglobin level decreased in elder age girls (? 11.5 years). Conclusion: The prevalence of Iron deficiency anaemia needs to be tackled on priority basis in government primary school children. Implementation of Mid day meal Programme and NIPI needs to strengthen to curtail Anaemia in children for Anaemia Mukt Bharat Keywords: Prevalence of anemia, Primary school children, Mid day meal programme, Micro nutrient deficiency .

Introduction: Encouraging healthy life style and dietary practices creates an impact not only on the child’s long-term health, but potentially the mother’s as well. Objectives: The study was planned to assess the Knowledge about various aspects of Maternal and Child health to plan appropriate counseling material. Materials and Methods: After informed consent, 100 pregnant women from 4 PHCS of Vadodara rural block and fifty from 1 PHC of Anklav block of Anand District were enrolled for the study. Information on knowledge regarding various aspects of health ad nutrition was elicited using pretested semi structure questionnaire. Findings: It was found that only half of the pregnant women knew about the concept of healthy diet in both the groups. Knowledge about the correct weight gain during pregnancy was better in mothers from Anand (74%) as compared to 47% in Mothers from Vadodara. Ninety percent of pregnant women in Anand group had correct knowledge of giving colostrum to new born as compared to 71% in Vadodara group. Knowledge about anemia and contraceptive methods was also not satisfactory in both the group of pregnant mothers. Conclusion: It can be concluded that knowledge regarding various aspects of health and nutrition requires frequent reinforcement using different strategies for sustainable development related to maternal and child health under various government programmes. Keywords: Knowledge, Anemia, Colostrum, Pregnant mothers.

Background: Iron deficiency anemia is a cause of concern for pregnant and lactating mother globally. As per NFHS 5 Data, 52.2% pregnant women (Both Urban and Rural) are anemic in India. Iron Deficiency Anemia is associated with maternal and neonates’ mortality, restricted cognition development, low birth weight babies, Premature babies and majorly stunting which affects the nutritional status throughout the vicious cycle. Postpartum anemia is associated with an impaired quality of life, reduced cognitive abilities, emotional instability, and depression and constitutes a significant health problem in women of reproductive age. Multipronged strategies are required to curtail maternal anemia. Food based approach to prevent anemia is the most sustainable strategy. Objectives: To investigate the impact of moringa oleifera leaves powder capsules on haemoglobin levels of postpartum mothers. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in one of the govt. hospitals of Vadodara District of Gujarat, India and was a part of larger study carried on M Oleifera effects on prolactin levels. An interventional study was carried out amongst 106 postpartum mothers. Fifty-six mothers constituted the interventional group of which 45 mothers did complete compliance and 50 mothers constituted the control group of which 37 mothers did complete compliance of capsules for 30 days. Hemoglobin levels were analysed on day 0 (Baseline) and on day 7 (Endline) post-partum. Data was analysed using independent t test and appropriate statistical analysis. Results: Findings revealed the prevalence of iron deficiency anemia to be 59%in postpartum mothers post-delivery. Mean baseline hemoglobin values for experimental and control group was 10.9 ± 1.4 g/dl and 10.3 ± 1.5 g/dl respectively on day 0 post-partum. The mean end line hemoglobin values for experimental and control group were 12.3 ± 1.5 g/dl and 11.6 ± 1.6 g/dl respectively on day 7 post-partum. The mean rise in haemoglobin levels of experimental group was 1.4g/dl and that of control group was 0.8g/dl which was significant (p=0.00001). Conclusion: Postpartum anemia is a cause of concern.There was a significant impact of Moringa Oleifera Leaves on hemoglobin levels of enrolled lactating mothers. Thus, it can be suggested that Moringa oleifera can be supplemented to lactating mothers’ post-partum to aid curtailing iron deficiency anemia. Improved haemoglobin levels in post-partum mothers may facilitate Exclusive Breastfeeding practices. Keywords: Postpartum, Lron Deficiency Anemia, Moringa Oleifera Leaves, Lactating mothers.

Background: Age appropriate optimal Infant and young child nutrition is one of the a main strategy to improve under nutrition in children. Sub optimal Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) practices need to be strengthen in rural, tribal and urban mothers. Objective: The present study was planned to assess the Knowledge and practices of lactating mothers on selected Infant and Young Child Nutrition (IYCN) practice Materials and Methods: This study was conducted from November 2022 to February 2023. There were 34 UHC (Urban Health Centre) in the area of Urban Vadodara. One UHC was selected purposively. Informed verbal and written consent were obtained from hundred mothers before data collection. Knowledge and practices on selected IYCN practices was collected using pre tested semi structured questionnaire. Total 100 mothers were interviewed. Results: 60% mothers were having knowledge regarding early initiation of breastfeeding but only 53% followed the correct practices. 61% of mothers were having knowledge regarding colostrum but only 58% followed correct practice. 82% mothers reported to have knowledge regarding pre lacteal but only 73% were following the correct practice. 60% knew that infant should be breastfed exclusively for 6 months but only 44% followed correct practices. Conclusion: Infant and Young Child nutrition (IYCN) practices were foundto be suboptimal. There is a need to sensitize young mothers for timely and optimal IYCN practices through various counselling strategies in government programmes. Keywords: Infant and Young Child nutrition (IYCN), Lactating mothers, Prelacteals, Colostrum