Prevalence of malnutrition among children under five years in rural areas of Salem district, Tamilnadu

Author: Arul B., Shankar. R., Jansalna Jamal, Jesna Raji George, Jincy P. James and Kothai R.

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Abstract

Prevalence measures the occurrence of any health condition, exposure or other factors related to health. Malnutrition among under five children in India is a major public health problem and the study was aimed to determine the prevalence of malnutrition among children under five years in rural areas of Salem District, Tamil Nadu. A Cross-sectional study was conducted among 100 children under five years in rural areas of Salem District. 47 children were Female and 53 were Male, among these 29 comes under Severe Acute Malnutrition (SAM) and 48 comes under Mild-Moderate malnutrition. The Stunting ratio was observed to be 68, Underweight and wasting ratio was found to be 76. Majority of the children with malnutrition were found with multiple co-morbidities, associated risk factors - poverty, unhygienic sanitation and on clinical examination children with thin-sparse and brown hair leads the most on evaluation regarding malnutrition. From this study, it was concluded that among the study population, more than half of the children were more prone to malnutrition, the overall prevalence of malnutrition in our study population is found to be 0.77%.

Keywords

Malnutrition, SAM, Mild-Moderate malnutrition, Co-morbidities

Conclusion

From this study, it was concluded that among the study population, more than half of the children were more prone to malnutrition because of their inappropriate lifestyle due to poverty, inappropriate diet of the child and the nursing mother, family history and other co morbidities. In order to reduce these risk factors, the government is providing different kinds of nutritious foods and other supplements via different Anganwadi centers. By conducting several surveys like these, government should be able to know the number of children who were affected or who were prone to malnutrition. Thereby, they can easily provide sufficient therapeutic food and other vital supplements (ORS, Vitamin A paediatric oral solution, Albendazole tablets, Zinc sulfate Tablets, Iron and Folic Acid) to respective Anganwadi thereby to children in different rural areas.

References

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How to cite this article

Arul B., Shankar. R., Jansalna Jamal, Jesna Raji George, Jincy P. James and Kothai R. (2023). Prevalence of malnutrition among children under five years in rural areas of Salem district, Tamilnadu. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 15(6): 777-780.