Impact of health promoting nutrition intervention package on severe malnutrition among under-five children in rural northern india

Abstract

Background: Globally, 17 million children under 5 years of age are affected with severe malnutrition. Severe wasting is a key contributor (12.6%) to child deaths due to nutritional deficiencies and is responsible for several morbid conditions. Objective: The purpose of this paper was to assess the impact of nutritional counseling intervention on severe malnutrition among rural under-five children in Northern India. Method: Nine villages in an ongoing project were included in the study to include all the under-five children (N=573) from these villages. Nutritional assessment was performed as per World Health Organization (WHO) child growth standards. Based on their z-scores of malnourishment indicators, children affected with severe malnutrition were included for customized health promoting nutritional intervention, other than the regular nutrition counseling sessions for all malnourished under-five children. Post nutrition counseling changes in anthropometric measurements were recorded at an interval of 6 months. Results: Significant changes were observed in mean z- scores before and after nutrition intervention that declined from -3.05 to -1.81 and -3.16 to-2.25 for weight for height (WHZ) and weight for age (WAZ), respectively. Conclusion: The results showed that the intervention was effective in community-based management of severe malnutrition among children in rural Northern India.