Background: In Kanpur, overall there were an estimated 43.6% stunted, 24.1% wasted and 41.8% underweight under-five children. There is a critical window of opportunity to prevent undernutrition by taking care of the nutrition of children in the first two years of life. With this background the present study was undertaken with the aim to assess the nutritional status in under five children in the slum area of Kanpur Nagar.Methods: The present study was conducted in 30 slums of Kanpur Nagar selected through 30 cluster sampling technique. The sample size was calculated as 390. From each cluster, approximate 13 study subjects aged 0-60 months were studied. Mothers of study subjects were interviewed to illicit the requisite information, using a predesigned and pretested questionnaire. Anthropometric measurements were taken using standard technique for each study subject. Data collected was analyzed using statistical tool.Results: Based on WHO classification, the prevalence of stunting and severe stunting was observed to be 31.28% and 13.59%. 14.62% study subjects were wasted while 6.15% subjects had severe wasting. 40.51% had mild-moderate malnutrition and 7.95% had severe malnutrition as per the criteria of mid upper arm circumference. Malnutrition was significantly associated with the age of the study subjects (p <0.05). The prevalence of malnutrition decreased significantly with higher maternal education and among those whose mother’s were housewives (p <0.05). Lower birth order and middle socio-economic class was associated with decreased prevalence of malnutrition (p <0.05). Conclusions: The nutritional status of children is dependent on maternal education and occupation and socioeconomic status. Nutrition education can have a significant effect in its reduction.

Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease world-wide and improving sanitation is known to have a  significant beneficial impact on health. The study on sanitation condition of Slum Area of Balkhu-14,  Kathmandu was studied. In this descriptive study, data was collected from 100 households, selected by using  simple random sampling. Most of the respondents were female i.e. 70%. More than half of the respondents were  illiterate and 69% of them were labor. Almost half of the respondents of the slum area, had knowledge about  sanitation, i.e. 43% of the respondents told the correct meaning of sanitation. Study revealed that only 58% of  the respondents had a toilet in their houses, 74% of the respondents used to brush their teeth once a day and 19%  twice a day, and only 81% used soap water for washing their hands after toilet. It was found that 72% of the  respondents were found to use water without treatment. The main communicable disease occurring in the study  area was found to be diarrhea. Since, the area was highly crowded and the low level of knowledge of the slum  dwelling people, the sanitation condition of the slum area was not good. Thus, awareness raising program regarding the sanitation practices and cleaning their environment should be conducted and the policy makers  should give priority for the improvement of lifestyles of slum dwelling peoples.