DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2018.v06i04.097

Pages: 1856-1862

Malnutrition remains a major threat to the survival, growth and development of Indian children. India is home to more than one-third of the world's under-nourished children. In 2010, one in five children was estimated to be underweight in developing countries. The WHO Health Statistics of 2012 for India showed the Alarming proportion of stunting as 47.90 per cent and that of underweight as 43.50 per cent. The evaluation of prevalence of malnutrition and its complication is the need of the hour to prevent and monitor them. Moreover, most of the children with malnutrition suffer from preventable complications and early diagnosis of malnutrition can help manage these successfully. The present study aims at evaluating the nutritional status of malnourished preschool children using the IAP classification and assessing the severity of malnutrition in relation to the mothers educational level. About 400 children in the age group of 1-5 years were studied for their Anthropometric indices. The anthropometric measurements were performed using the standard WHO anthropometric measuring tools. Standardized methods were used in all measurements and were compared with standard HARVARD classification of IAP. According to IAP criteria among underweight (67.5%), preschool children, Grade I were 55.9%, Grade II 23.7%, Grade III- 16.2% and Grade IV were 4.07%. Literacy of mother was observed to have significant impact (p<0.01) over the prevalence of under nutrition. In the present study high prevalence of the under nutrition and its relation with age, sex, low literacy status of mother and associated nutritional deficiencies were documented among the under five children.