Nutritional status of 2–6 year old children of Kankabati grampanchayat, Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, India.
Loading...
Date
2012-04
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Objective: To assess the prevalence of undernutrition (underweight, stunting and wasting) among preschool children of Kankabati grampanchayat, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India
Methods: The study was a community based, cross-sectional survey carried out among 410 Bengali Hindu low socioeconomic preschool children (198 boys and 212 girls) of 2 to 6 years. The height and weight of each child were taken. The results were analyzed by Z score values according to height for age, weight for age and weight for height with reference to NCHS.
Results: The overall prevalence of undernutrition among these children was: underweight 47%, stunting 43% and wasting 24%. Severe (below –3 Z score) underweight, stunting and wasting was 13.7%, 16.3% and 7.9% respectively. Prevalence of underweight was higher in boys (45.5%) than girls (43.9%); stunting and wasting were also higher in boys (44.9% stunting and 25.3% wasting) than girls (41.5% stunting and 22.6% wasting).
Conclusion: The findings of the present study revealed widespread prevalence of undernutrition among preschool children of Kankabati grampanchayat, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India.
Description
Keywords
Preschool children, community health, undernutrition
Citation
Sinha Nirmalya Kumar, Maiti Kartik, Samanta Pradip, Das Dulal Chandra, Banerjee Priyanka. Nutritional status of 2–6 year old children of Kankabati grampanchayat, Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, India. Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health. 2012 Apr-Jun; 41(2): 60-64.