35 pc UT pre-schoolers suffere from Vitamin A deficiency

Naina Mishra

Chandigarh, February 7

PGIMER study finds prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency in 35.14 per cent of the pre-schoolers of Chandigarh.

The prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency based on predefined criteria was found to be 35.14 per cent in PGIMER study. According to PGIMER, this high prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency would qualify as a severe public health problem (WHO, 2009 guidelines).

This community survey has also unmasked the alarmingly high Vitamin A deficiency and poor Vitamin A dietary intake among marginalised children aged 6–60 months, who are beneficiaries of the Integrated Child Development Scheme program (ICDS).

The study was conducted as a community-based cross-sectional survey of children across the Anganwadi centers in Chandigarh covering 450 Anganwadis in three ICDS projects of Chandigarh from January 2018 to June 2019. As many as 216 children aged 6 to 60 months were enrolled from 30 Anganwadis of Chandigarh during the study period.

A 24-h dietary recall captured detailed information about all foods and beverages consumed by the children in the past 24 hours.

The study was recently published this year in Indian Journal of Community Medicine.

The prevalence of underweight, stunting, and wasting in the study is 19.4%, 22%, and 16.1%, respectively.

Although more than 3/4th of children aged 9 months or above in PGI study cohort reported having received Vitamin A supplementation doses, complete coverage from available records was only 38.52%. This figure is below the NFHS-4 survey, conducted in 2015–2016 where 60% of the preschoolers aged 9–59 months received a Vitamin A dose in the past 6 months.

As majority of the families enrolled in PGI study had migrated from the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand to escape poverty, food insecurity, and lack of employment opportunities in their respective states, the PGI compared the study estimates with the Vitamin A deficiency rates reported from states outsourcing these migrant populations in Chandigarh. States such as Bihar (23.5%), Chhattisgarh (26.6%), and Haryana (26.1%) have a severe public health problem and Punjab (17.2%) and Uttar Pradesh (17.1%) have a moderate public health problem of Vitamin A deficiency.

The study also found that the odds of Vitamin A deficiency were lower in subjects with middle (and higher family income when compared to lower family income.

“A targeted approach involving updated surveillance of susceptible populations is critical to optimize the existing nutrition programs like Poshan Abhiyaan besides exploring the option of food fortification with Vitamin A in the supplementary food supplied under the ICDS program,” the experts have pointed out in the study,