Assessment of Health Status of Children: Impact of External Factors

As the prevalence of both nutritional deficiencies and disorders co-exist among children, it is inevitable that both are studied in a particular population. Five each of Matriculation, Corporation and Panchayat schools were selected from Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu State in India. A sample of 6190 children were selected and their background information was studied with respect to demographic, socio-economic status, lifestyle practices and family medical history. For a sub sample of 1852 children, their child rearing and weaning practices was found out from their mothers. The health status of children was assessed using anthropometry, clinical and biochemical estimations. Food intake of all the children was found using three day recall while for obese children, weighment survey was conducted. Three intervention programs were carried out for the obese children. The school food service was assessed in terms of type of foods served and sanitation. The impact of education on the food service personnel was found to be significant.