Health and nutrition of children, 0 to 60-month old, in an agrarian-reform settlement, Vale do Rio Doce, MG, Brazil

Abstract

Objetive: This study evaluated the general health conditions of children living in a rural settlement in Tumiritinga, Vale do Rio Doce, MG, Brazil. Methods: The obtained data regards the nutritional state (anthropometry and hemoglobin level), intestinal parasitic infestation, breast-feeding period, food habits and vaccination records of 69 children, ranging from zero to 60 months of age. Results: The results showed that 7.6% of the children presented low indices of weight/age and height/age correlations, and 47.5% presented low hemoglobin level. Parasitic infestation was detected in 96.1% of the 51 children examined, and 34, 0% had incomplete vaccination records. The average period of exclusive breast-feeding was 30 days. The consumption of iron-rich foods was also found inadequate. Conclusion: Given the increasing number of rural settlements in Brazil and given the poor health and nutritional circumstances of the children studied in this work, urgent and effective measures of preventive intervention must be taken to promote this population's health conditions.