DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2014.v02i01.0075

Pages: 352-356

In large area of the world today, malnutrition, especially that affecting young children, is one of the principal public health problems. Anthropometry has become a practical tool for evaluating the nutritional status of populations, particularly of children in developing countries & the nutritional status is the best indicator of global well-being of children. Malnutrition, Poverty & Disease are interlinked in such a way that each contributes to the presence & permanence of the other. The objectives of the study were to assess malnutrition using anthropometric measurements & to study the socio- economic & demographic factors associated with it & to assess the morbidity profile of the study group. The present cross-sectional study was carried out over a period of 2 months in the Under 5 children attending immunization clinic at the Urban Health Centre (UHC) of GMC, Miraj. Information regarding socio- economic & demographic factors was collected using predesigned, pretested, proforma. Standard procedures were used for measuring weight & length/height of children & IAP classification was used for grading PEM. Overall prevalence of PEM was 56.23% in study population, with higher prevalence in male (57.1%) as compared to females (42.9%). Out of total 489 cases, Grade I PEM (25.6 %) was most common followed by grade II (20 %). Out of total, 30.3% children had some morbidity. Upper respiratory tract infection (21.6%) & diarrhoea (18.2%) were the most commonly reported morbidities. Special emphasis should be given for provision of health care services and promotion and protection of optimal infant feeding practices, proper child rearing, education on environmental sanitation and personal hygienic practices, for the improvement of nutritional as well as health status of the children.