Health profile assessment of school children of Jodhpur District of Rajasthan.

Background: The health and nutritional status of young children is an index of national investment within the development of its future manpower. There is a limited data available on health profile among adolescents in India. Thus, this study was undertaken with the target of assessing the nutritional status and morbidity pattern of school children Jodhpur district of Rajasthan. The objectives of this study were to assess the health profile including general physical examination, anthropometric measurements, morbidity pattern and addiction among school-going children of Jodhpur.

Material and methods: A school-based observational cross-sectional study was carried out among the nearby schools pertaining to our urban and rural health centres associated with the Department of Community Medicine and Family Medicine, AIIMS Jodhpur.

Result: A total of 525 school children participated in the study. On general physical examination, it was observed that the majority (4.1%) of the school children from rural area were seen with 'flag sign' in comparison with those in urban region. Fluorosis was observed in the majority (60.2%) in rural schools in comparison with urban and this was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.000). The majority (21, 0.04%) of them were suffering from hearing loss, among them (13,61.9%) were from rural area in comparison with (08, 38.1%) in urban and this difference was found to be statistically significant. (0.000*). Anaemia was observed in (210, 40.0%) of the school children.

Conclusion: The study brings out the need for intensified and targeted school health awareness programmes for school-going children and utilization of various services.