Publication:

Effect of nutrition education intervention on undernutrition among under five children in urban and rural areas of Bhopal district, Madhya Pradesh

Background Nutrition education is defined as instruction or training intended to lead to acquired nutrition-related knowledge and/or nutrition-related skills and be provided in individual. It is also demonstrably capable of improving dietary behaviour and nutrition status on its own.

Methods A prospective observational study was conducted in the urban and rural ICDS projects of Bhopal district, Madhya Pradesh from July 2014 to June 2015. Three types of instruments were used: NIPCCD Suposhan Guide, a structured questionnaire and anthropometric measurements including weight, height and MUAC. Data was entered into Microsoft Excel and was analyzed by using EPI Info version 7.

Results As per Z score 7.9% children had normal weight (Z score above -1SD), 31.7% had mild underweight (Z score between -1SD to -2SD), 40.7% had moderate underweight (Z score between -2SD to -3SD) and 19.6% had severe underweight (Z score below -3SD). Reduction in moderate underweight was from 39.2% to 33.9% and in severe underweight it was from 19.3% to 15.2% in urban area. In the rural area reduction in moderate underweight was from 44.1% to 36.6% and in the severe underweight group it was from 20.4% to 9.7%.

Conclusions In our nutrition education intervention we found that a well planned, short, simple, focused and based on locally available food items delivered with little empathy can do a lot even in weaker sections of the society.