COMPARATIVE STUDY OF DISEASE PATTERNS AND SCHOLASTIC PERFORMANCE AMONG RURAL, URBAN AND TRIBAL GOVERNMENT RESIDENTIAL HOSTEL CHILDREN OF EAST GODAVARI DISTRICT

Abstract

BACKGROUND Most of the children from tribal, rural and urban slums are found to suffer from health problems due to poor quality of life. Malnutrition continues to be major threat leading to morbidities and poor scholastic performance in these children. The welfare hostels for the children are established for weaker sections of the society as an important social welfare measure in India since long time. The data regarding the nutritional, morbidity status and scholastic performance of the children in social welfare hostels are sparse. With this background, this study was conducted to evaluate the extent and pattern of health status of school age children and their scholastic performance using a predesigned proforma. METHODS The study was conducted in randomly selected 3 hostels from urban, rural and tribal areas of East Godavari District. It was a cross sectional observational study. RESULTS Mild anaemia, poor attention and calculation ability, dental caries, refractive errors, nonspecific headaches, dermatological problems, Vitamin A deficiency were the commonly seen problems in all rural, urban, tribal hostellers. CONCLUSION Anaemia, dermatological problems and dental caries are more commonly observed in all, hence hygienic conditions and nutritional supplementations are to be improved. Regular de-worming program has to be successfully implemented in the hostels to decrease the prevalence of worm infestations. Poor scholastic performance can be improved by implementing skilled training programs like Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) in these hostels along with formal education.