Feeding Practices affecting Nutritional Status of Anganwadi Children

Abstract

Each Anganwadi unit covers a population of about 400 to 800 and mini Anganwadi center about 150 to 400. The
work of Anganwadi centers is supervised by Mukhyasevikas. Field supervision is done by the Child Development
Project Officer (CDPO).Nutrition-related factors contribute to about 45% of deaths in children under 5 years of
age.This study was conducted to find the factors affecting nutritional status of children at anganwadi centres in
Aligarh.
This study was conducted(cross sectional) at the Anganwadi centres under registered areas of the Department
of Community Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh. The study
was conducted from July, 2017 to June 2018. All children of age 3-6 years registered at the Anganwadi centres
of field practice area. INCLUSION CRITERIA:Child of 3 years to 6years (36 months to 71 months) of age and
Child whose caregiver gave consent for the study.EXCLUSION CRITERIA:Child not registered at Anganwadi
centre,Non-cooperative caregivers,Caregiver and child not present in three visit periods. Ethical clearance was
obtained from Institutional Ethics Committee, JNMC, AMU, Aligarh.Informed verbal consent was taken from
caregiver before interview.
It was found among the feeding practices that nutritional status was found to be associated with duration of
exclusive breast feeding, age of start of complementary feeding, and total duration of breast feeding.