Growth Faltering in Young Children in a Rural Population in Telangana Region of Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

In India, about a half of pre-school children ore under-nourished. Undernutrition manifests as subnormal growth or growth retardation and is measured by levels of stunting, wasting and underweight. Therefore, measurement of growth, in spite of some practical limitations, is a convenient and useful tool in the hands of primary health care workers. Growth monitoring has been an integral part of nutrition surveillance and a number of public health intervention programs like the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) and Tamil Nadu Integrated Nutrition Project (TINP) in India. Growth monitoring in early childhood is an important component of the ICDS program. These children are weighed every month using Salter weighing scale at the Anganwadi Centre (AWC) and the weights are plotted on growth charts.