Nutritional status of 2–6 year old children of Kankabati grampanchayat, Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal, India
Abstract
Objective: To assess the prevalence of undernutrition (underweight, stunting and wasting) among preschool children of Kankabati grampanchayat, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India
Methods: The study was a community based, cross-sectional survey carried out among 410 Bengali Hindu low socioeconomic preschool children (198 boys and 212 girls) of 2 to 6 years. The height and weight of each child were taken. The results were analyzed by Z score values according to height for age, weight for age and weight for height with reference to NCHS.
Results: The overall prevalence of undernutrition among these children was: underweight 47%, stunting 43% and wasting 24%. Severe (below –3 Z score) underweight, stunting and wasting was 13.7%, 16.3% and 7.9% respectively. Prevalence of underweight was higher in boys (45.5%) than girls (43.9%); stunting and wasting were also higher in boys (44.9% stunting and 25.3% wasting) than girls (41.5% stunting and 22.6% wasting).
Conclusion: The findings of the present study revealed widespread prevalence of undernutrition among preschool children of Kankabati grampanchayat, Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India.
(Key words: Preschool children; community health; undernutrition)
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/sljch.v41i2.4392
© 2012 Nirmalya Kumar Sinha, Kartik Maiti, Pradip Samanta, Dulal Chandra Das, Priyanka Banerjee, published by Sri Lanka College of Paediatricians
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons License.