Prevalence of nutritional deficiency disorders among rural primary school children (5-15 years).

The school as portal of personalised health care is an important concept. Significant number of school-age children are in need of adequate source of health care and nearly one-fifth of the population of every country comprised these children. Nutritional disorders account for the majority of morbidity, mortality and drop outs among them. One thousand and fifty primary school children (of both sexes) were studied from June to December, 1992. Prevalence of various nutritional disorders was 47.42%, anaemia and vitamin A deficiency were the commonest among them. Remedial measures followed by health education of pupil, teachers and parents, were the intervention measures adopted during and after the survey. Dietary modification, improvement of school sanitation and personal hygiene, strengthening school health services and awareness building, are the key strategies recommended.

PIP: A survey conducted in 1992, in 3 primary schools in a rural area of India's southwest Maharashtra State, assessed the prevalence of nutritional deficiency disorders among children, 5-15 years of age. Most common among the 1050 children examined were anemia (32.47%), vitamin A deficiency (9.8%), vitamin B-complex deficiency (2.57%), protein-energy malnutrition (2.38%), and vitamin D deficiency (0.19%). 69.52% of the children had perceived morbidity at the time of the initial visit to the schools. 68% were assessed as having poor personal hygiene, 30.47% were infested with worms, and 10.66% had acute respiratory infections. These children and their families were offered remedial services (immediate treatment, nutrition counseling) at successive follow-up visits, and improvements were made in school sanitation. Nutritional disorders represent a major cause of morbidity, mortality, and dropout among school-aged children in India, and school-based services directed toward the deficiency disorders identified in this study could have a major impact on child health.

Socio-psychological study of the prostitutes.

Only 8 percent of the prostitutes were literate. Income per night varied from Rs 10 to Rs 30 for 72% of the prostitutes. Whereas only one third of the married women were happy with the profession, 95.92% of Devdasis liked the profession. Illiteracy, domestic unhappiness, deception, destitution, poor socio-ecomic status of parents, and religious custom of Devdasi were the important contributory factors for landing innocent girls or socially handicapped women into prostitution.

Infant feeding practices in the urban slum of Karad in west Maharashtra.

Infant feeding practices have been studied amongst 181 women residing in a semiurban area of Maharashtra. Information on socio-economic status of the family with special reference to maternal literacy and occupation was collected. Data pertaining to the type of prelacteal feed, time of beginning of breast feeding, age at introduction and type of supplementary food were obtained. Instead of colostrum, 73.49% mothers used various inaugural feeds. Social factors viz, lack of education, poverty, lack of knowledge about the nutritional requirement of the infant and feeding of infants by elder sister or brother (foster mother) were the major determinants for erroneous feeding practices.