[Nutrition and growth].

Abstract

This article reports on the research and training activities on the Social Pediatric Center at Khombole (SPCK), the rural branch of the Social Pediatric Center of the University of Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal. One of the major goals of the SPCK is fighting the war against infant-child mortality caused in large part by malnutrition. The SPCK's 2 major goals are to: 1) survey the growth rate of infants and children 0-14 under the supervision of 2 pediatricians in 8 villages by charting, measuring and examining them; and 2) provide nutritional education, in special sessions, to mothers of the community. The goals of the sessions are to teach mothers: 1) to differentiate between the different food groups; 2) to learn about an infant's growth and developmental stages; and 3) to learn how to properly feed infants 0-3 years with local resources. To measure the effects of the activities a survey took place from 1974-1979 on 8675 children 0-4 years; only 1% were found seriously malnourished and 32% mildly malnourished. In spite of the fact that malnutrition is closely related to underdevelopment, these 2 interventions helped alleviate the problem in this community.