Nutritional status and morbidity pattern of children aged 6-60 months beneficiaries of anganwadi at urban slums area of Raipur city in Central India

Introduction: Malnutrition is one of the major social and public health concerns in India.There is similar situation in Chhattisgarh with 37% children underweight. About 200 million people in India are living in urban slums without basic health facilities, poor environment conditions that make children susceptible to infectious disease. Objective: To assess the nutritional status and morbidity pattern in children aged 6-60monthsattending Anganwadi at urban slums of Raipur city. Methods: Cross sectional study was conducted in urban slum of Raipur city from July-2017 to June-2018.A representative sample of 605 children was anthropometrically and clinically assessed for their nutritional status and morbidity pattern. Socio-economic variables were also collected to identify the determinants of nutritional status and morbidity pattern. Data was analyzed using SPSS-20 and WHO-Anthroplus. Informed consent and ethical issues were considered. Results: Out of the 605 children, 46.28% were in <2 years age group and 47.77% were female. Majority of them belongs to low socioeconomic (87.93%) status. As per WHO nutritional measurement criteria, 20.16% were underweight, 21.16% stunting and 13.05% wasting. Major morbidity conditions among study participants were respiratory infections (26.28%), diarrhea (15.54%), conjunctival pallor (19.83%), scabies (18.51%) and 10.91% dental caries. Mother’s education, diarrhoeal/respiratory infection, socio-economic status, mother’s occupation were significant determinants for underweight in study children. Conclusion: Children benefited from Anganwadi centers in urban slum of Raipur has less underweight (20.16%) as compare to state average (29.1%) in urban area and better immunization coverage (92.40%).