Under nutrition in diarrhoea affected under-five children

Abstract

Introduction: In India the vicious cycle between diarrhea and undernutrition has not yet been broken. Undernutrition predisposes to infection of gastro-intestinal system. Once the child suffers from undernutrition it is very difficult to come out of this vicious cycle. Objective: The study was done to study the social profile and risk factors of diarrheal diseases in under-five children. Methods: The study was carried out on hundred under five year old diarrhea cases in rural area of Saharanpur from September to December 2018. The social, cultural, economic and environmental factors were recorded along with physical measurements by house to house visits on pretested and suitably modified proforma. The analysis was done using MS Excel software and EPI Info. Results: Among them sixty one children were found to be suffering from undernutrition. The undernourished children had also suffered greater number of times from respiratory tract infections and diarrhea in the past one year. Overcrowding was observed in majority of the houses. Diarrhea was observed to be more in children of illiterate mothers and lower socio-economy groups. The process of giving oral rehydration therapy and home available fluids was found to be faulty in majority of households. Conclusion: Providing additional nutrition to undernourished children, proper use of oral rehydration therapy and home available fluids should be explained to mothers. The risk factors identified for diarrhea like bottle feeding, lack of hand washing and unhealthy food hygiene practices can be avoided by health education of the mothers in resource-poor health care setting.