Assessment of the Nutritional Status and Immunization Coverage of Anganwadi Children in Rafiq Nagar, Mumbai

Abstract

India has made huge strides in the past decades in warding off the spectre of famine. The Green Revolution should have gone a long way to tackling child malnutrition, Norman Borlaug's creation of dwarf spring wheat strains in the 1960s meant that India could feed itself at last. Better farming techniques and food security policies have made mass starvation a thing of the past. Yet the problem of child malnutrition remains critical, and the reasons it deserves concerted attention are many. Besides the obvious moral obligation to protect the weakest in society, the economic cost to India is and will be staggering. The present study is carried out to assess the nutritional status and immunization coverage of children attending Anganwadi in Rafiq nagar Mumbai. A descriptive epidemiological study was conducted at Rafiq Nagar urban slum which is a field practice area of Department of Preventive and Social Medicine, TN Medical College, Mumbai, India. All children below 6 years of age attending 6 Anganwadi were included. The information was gathered by personal interview of mothers using semi-structured questionnaires. Out of 194 children 93 (47.9%) were males. According to WHO malnutrition grading, 59.8% children were malnourished and only 90 (46.4%) were completely immunized. Malnutrition was prevalent in the age group of 1-2 years. Thus mother should be properly educated regarding the nutritional needs of the growing children and importance of complete immunization. Importance of exclusive breastfeeding, timely weaning, provision of proper protein rich and energy dense complementary food should be stressed.