Malnutrition among under Five Children in Uttarakhand

BACKGROUND: Globally more than one third of child deaths are attributable to under nutrition. Eighty percent of the world’s undernourished children live in 20 countries, with India being home to nearly 60 million children who are underweight. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess malnutrition among under five children in a selected hospital of Dehradun, Uttarakhand. METHODOLOGY: A quantitative research approach was used with descriptive cross-sectional research design. Non probability convenient sampling technique was used to select 70 under five children who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The data collection tools included Socio -demographic profile and Anthropometric assessment of the children. The data was analyzed based on objectives by using descriptive and inferential statistics. Data was analyzed using WHO anthroplus software and SPSS 21.0. RESULT: The result showed that out of 70 children 17.14% showed mild wasting, 18.57% showed moderate wasting and (21.43%) showed severe wasting. 11.43% children showed mild stunting, moderate stunting was present in 15.71% children and severe stunting was present in 27.14% children. 31.43% children were moderately underweight and 30% were severely underweight. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that majority of the children were malnourished