Assessment of Nutritional Status of Rural Anganwadi Children of Aligarh under the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Services) and Rural Health

Abstract

Abstract A survey was conducted to assess the nutritional status of children (0-3 years) among 16 Anganwadis in 5 villages in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh (U.P.) registered under the ICDS scheme. A self-prepared structured interview schedule was used. To get the qualitative information of the study anthropometric measures include height and weight were used for assessing nutritional status of the children. The stepwise analysis of two variables height for age and weight for age was applicable on the basis of Waterlow’s and Gomez’ classification. To examine the relationship between nutritional status of the child and selected variable that affects nutritional status of children, Chi-square test was employed. Based on Gomez’ classification, out of 300 children, only 229 (76.4%) of children received supplementary nutrition through ICDS out of which 188 (62.7%) children were normal while 41 (13.7%) were underweight. Based on Waterlow’s classification out of 300 children, only 229 (76.4%) of children received supplementary nutrition through ICDS out of these children 148 (49.4%) were normal while 81 (27%) were stunted. It can thus be concluded that majority of children were normal who received supplementary nutrition through ICDS.