Portable Digital Stadiometer for Assessing the Degree of Childhood Malnutrition in Low-Income Countries

Abstract

Chronic malnutrition is a major concern of low-income countries. Children affected by chronic malnutrition are affected by stunted physical growth, reduced ability to learn, low cognitive development and weak immune system. A new and cheap instrument composed of a digital stadiometer and an Android-based application has been developed to rapidly screen the status of malnutrition of children in low-income countries. The core of the digital stadiometer is Arduino Nano, connected to a time-of-flight sensor capable of measuring the children height. The height data are transmitted by Bluetooth to the Android-based application, which automatically evaluates the degree of children malnutrition by height/age ratio. The proposed instrument was firstly calibrated in a private clinic in Italy, and then tested in Uganda, evidencing an alarming situation: 53% of children were identified as chronically malnourished with 12% of cases affected by severe malnutrition. The instrument was successfully used by local staff who confirmed its great advantages over the previous screening technique based on mechanic stadiometer and manual paper transcription of data.