An evaluation of the utilisation of reproductive and child health services provided by government to the rural community of Anand District, Gujrat.

A multi-indicator thirty cluster survey was conducted during February- March 2008 in the rural areas of Anand district of Gujrat state to assess the utilization of the reproductive and child health services provided through government sector. In each selected village minimum 40 households were visited till total eight children in age group 12-23 months, at least two antenatal mothers in last trimester and five mothers who delivered in last year were studied. A total of 555 children of age less than three years & 1481 women in reproductive age group were included in the study. 74.8% of the children had institutional delivery. Birth registration was almost 100%. Immunization coverage was 84.5%. Registration of children and pregnant mothers under Mamta Abhiyan(MA) were 91% and 84 % respectively. Only 53% children were brought to Mamta Diwas Kendra regularly. Vitamin A coverage to children was 76.9%. Tetanus toxoid coverage of pregnant women was 85.1%, while Iron tablets were provided to 48.3% women. 43% of the postnatal mothers had no post-partum visit. Utilization of government schemes among postnatal women was 9% to 20%.

An epidemiological study of health and nutritional status of under five children in semi-urban community of Gujarat.

In developing countries, children of 0-5 years of age form a large as well as "high risk" group. Malnutrition poses a grave risk to the health of these children. The main objectives of this study were to assess the health & nutritional status of children of 0-5 years of age group & to study the influence of various epidemiological factors on health & nutritional status of children on 0-5 years of age group. It is a community based cross sectional study done in randomly selected three wards of Petlad town, district Anand in Gujarat state. 300 children of age group 0-5 years selected by systematic sampling method. Mother of each child included in the study was subjected to personal interview in her own house followed by clinical examination & anthropometric measurements of the child. The three indices of nutritional status namely, weight for age, height for age, & weight for height were expressed in standard deviation units from the median for the international reference populations as per WHONCHS standards & were compared with WHONCHS growth reference data. The prevalence of under weight (wt. for age below 2SD) was 43.67%. 50.3% children were found stunted (ht. 1br age below -2 SID) with higher prevalence in 2nd and 5th year of life. Prevalence of wasting (wt. for ht. below 2SD) was comparatively low (23.2% with a peak in 3rd year of life). These nutritional parameters showed a significant association with parental education, socio-economic status, family size, environmental conditions (safe drink water, sanitary waste disposal & overcrowding), & episodes of common diseases.