Evaluation of the effects of nutrition intervention measures on admitted children in nutritional rehabilitation center, Gulbarga, India

Abstract

INTRODUCTIONNutrition is one of the most important factor affecting the growth and development of children and nutritional status is the best global indicator of well-being in children. However, even after a decade of galloping economic growth, India is facing the problem of malnutrition among fewer than five children. Malnutrition weakens immune response and aggravates the effects of infection and so, children who are malnourished tend to have more severe diarrheal episodes and are at a higher risk of pneumonia trapping the children in a vicious cycle of malnutrition.1 Globally, 162 million under-five year children were stunted in 2012, of which 56 percent of all stunted children lived in Asia and 36% in Africa.99 million under-five children were underweight of which 67% lived in Asia and 29% in Africa.2 In India, 42.5% under five children are underweight, 48 % are stunted and 19.8 % are wasted. 3ABSTRACT Background: Children with severe acute malnutrition require immediate attention along with proper nutritional rehabilitation for which nutritional rehabilitation centers (NRC) has been established. Even with establishment of NRCs the proportion of severe acute malnutrition in community has not been reduced. Thus it is necessary to know the effect of nutritional interventions on children admitted to these centers. Present study was done to analyze the effect of nutritional interventions on the children admitted to nutritional rehabilitation centre by reviewing the anthropometric indicators. Methods: A longitudinal observational study was done among the children admitted to NRC from January 2013 to June 2014. A predesigned and pre-tested proforma was used to collect the socio demographic information. Admitted children were observed to analyze the effects of interventional measures on select anthropometric indicators. The data collected was entered in Microsoft excel sheet and analyzed. Results: Majority of the admitted children (41.77%) was in 12-23 months age group. 88(51.76%) were females and 82(48.24%) were males. Overall mean weight at admission was 7.19±1.57 kgs; for males it was 7.23±1.54 kgs and for females it was 7.16±1.60 kgs. The overall mean weight at discharge is 7.94±1.77 kgs for males it was 8.01±1.82 kgs and for females it was 7.88±1.72 kgs. The average weight gain for the study group during their stay at the centre was 7.9±1.6 g/kg/day. The target weight was achieved only by 26% of admitted children. Conclusions: Nutritional rehabilitation centers are effective in management of severe malnutrition. However improvements are necessary to ensure the full recovery of all children admitted.

Performance and costing of nutrition intervention measures on admitted children in malnutrition treatment center: a case study from Jharkhand, India

“…11,27 However, the recovery rate was found better than other studies conducted in NRCs in Nigeria (52.7%) and Indore district of Madhya Pradesh (26%). 20,28 The present study found that a total of 9 (1.3%) children died during treatment which was slightly higher than the study conducted in 48 MTCs in the same state (0.6%). 9 Other studies have reported mortality varying between 0.4% and 3.5% in different States which is less than other countries.…”

“…24 The study conducted in Indore found average weight gain of 7.9±1.6 g/kg/day. 20 The average length of stay at the MTCs was found to be 16.7±3.2 days. The finding is comparable with other studies conducted in Vadodara district of Gujarat (16 days), Ujjain and Indore district of Madhya Pradesh (14 days) and in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh (18 days).…”

“…Similar findings were reported in others studies where a greater number of females were admitted in NRCs as compared to males. 20,21 It is important to note that close to three-fourth (72.1%) of the total admitted SAM cases did not have any medical complication. Other studies also showed that around 50 to 70% of SAM cases admitted to NRCs were medically uncomplicated.…”

“…9 Other studies have reported mortality varying between 0.4% and 3.5% in different States which is less than other countries. [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] This compares favourably with the national and international standards of care (<10% child deaths). 11,27 This is a significant finding as the primary objective of facility-based management of SAM is to reduce fatality rates.…”

Evaluation of the Effects of Nutritional Intervention Measures on Sam Children in a Nutritional Rehabilitation Centre, Acsr Government Medical College, Nellore, A. P.

“…6 Hashmi G et al showed similar findings as our study. 7 Weight has been taken as the main anthropometric measure of response to treatment. An improvement in the weight of severe malnourished children has the most significant effect in reducing the mortality among them.…”