Gajanan Velhal

Nutritional Status of Children Under 5 from Urban and Rural India: Assessment and Influencing Factors Gajanan Velhal

Nutritional status is one of the basic indicators of the well being of a child and quality of health care in a defined area. A nutritional deficit in the age group under 5 years can greatly hamper the well being and normalcy of the individual in the future. Regular healthcare programs cannot help maintain proper nutritional status of these children because of lack of monitoring. Many developing countries of the world like Africa and India face this problem and there is need to assess the status periodically to help higher bodies revise their plans of action. By means of anthropometric measurements, a clinical examination and a diet history of the subject, an assessment of their condition can be reached. Numerous parameters influence the nutritional status a great deal like socio-economic status, cultural factors, geographic locations, environmental conditions, and accessibility and utilization levels of health services which has been assessed in the present study. Strategic guidelines defined by the study should assist and motivate clinicians and social workers to uplift the healthcare services and pediatric nutritional status of the underprivileged sections of various countries.