Early Childhood Malnourishment and its Associated Factors - Uttarakhand

Abstract

Malnutrition, a word which seems to shake our roots and disturb our future. Today the underdeveloped and many developing countries are battling this threat in many ways. The reason behind malnutrition is the determinants which make it prevail in our neighborhood and our country on the whole. Malnutrition possess a very serious threat to the future of our country especially the children between (1 -3) years of age. This paper attempts to identify the existing prevalence of malnutrition in Uttarakhand, to explore the predisposing factors contributing to it in under five children and compare the prevalence with the selected neighboring states. An in -depth survey of all the related literatures and published articles in the selected area was made. It has been reported in recent times about the hike in India's hunger problems and the number of reported cases of stunting and wasting has also rocketed though underweight has slightly reduced. The only way to curb malnutrition is by; breaking the shackles of the determinants, thorough regular surveys and screenings, improved and adequate health care services, reaching out to the needy and spreading awareness among the masses.

Nutrition related practice of mother’s under-five children

“…The questionnaire developed to assess knowledge mothers consisted 28 multiple choice questions in following areas: malnutrition, minor deficiency diseases and nutrition rich diet, feeding and importance, complementary feeds, management, prevention and complications and utilization of health services. Total score of tools was 28 which was categorized into good (above 20), average (10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) and poor (below 10). The tool used to assess the nutrition related practices of mothers was structured five-point Likert scale.…”

“…In order to develop Multicomponent Program was developed by the researcher after analysing the data regarding nutritional knowledge and related practices of the mothers, discussed with the nutritionists and co-supervisors in the study. Further, thorough review of published literature was done (10), nutritional status and factors contributing to malnutrition were explored as part of the study (9), Focused group discussion was conducted among mothers (11), guidelines…”