Feeding Practices affecting Nutritional Status of Anganwadi Children

Abstract

Each Anganwadi unit covers a population of about 400 to 800 and mini Anganwadi center about 150 to 400. Thework of Anganwadi centers is supervised by Mukhyasevikas. Field supervision is done by the Child DevelopmentProject Officer (CDPO).Nutrition-related factors contribute to about 45% of deaths in children under 5 years ofage.This study was conducted to find the factors affecting nutritional status of children at anganwadi centres inAligarh.This study was conducted(cross sectional) at the Anganwadi centres under registered areas of the Departmentof Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. The studywas conducted from July, 2017 to June 2018. All children of age 3-6 years registered at the Anganwadi centresof field practice area. INCLUSION CRITERIA:Child of 3 years to 6years (36 months to 71 months) of age andChild whose caregiver gave consent for the study.EXCLUSION CRITERIA:Child not registered at Anganwadicentre,Non-cooperative caregivers,Caregiver and child not present in three visit periods. Ethical clearance wasobtained from Institutional Ethics Committee, JNMC, AMU, Aligarh.Informed verbal consent was taken fromcaregiver before interview.It was found among the feeding practices that nutritional status was found to be associated with duration ofexclusive breast feeding, age of start of complementary feeding, and total duration of breast feeding.