An Epidemiological Study of Malnutrition Among Under Five Children of Rural and Urban Haryana.

Introduction: A child is future of nation. Malnutrition is a big public health problem in India as it can be attributed for more than half (54 percent) of all under five mortality in India.

Aim: To assess prevalence of malnutrition among urban and rural population of Haryana using newly developed WHO growth standards.

Settings And Design: A community based cross-sectional survey was conducted in children of 3-60 months age living in the urban and rural field practice areas of Department of Community Medicine MMIMSR, Mullana, Ambala during January 2012 to December 2012.

Materials And Methods: Seven hundred and fifty children, aged 3-60 months, were studied for nutritional status, socio-demographic measures were obtained from structured questionnaire and followed by anthropometric assessment using standards methods. Z score for Anthropometric data was calculated by WHO Anthro 2010 software (beta version).

Statistical Analysis: Descriptive statistics as well as simple proportion were calculated with SPSS 20.

Results: We found that 41.3% children were underweight and 14% were severe underweight. Female children were more nutritionally deprived than males. Among sociodemographic factors maternal educational and working status as well as SES class and rural background of family had greater impact on nutritional status of child.

Conclusion: We found that almost half of our under five children are underweight, girl child being affected more. For attainment of best possible nutrition and growth in children, targeted short-term strategies addressing underlying risk factors and more long-term poverty alleviation strategies may be needed.