Abstract

The general objective of the study has to prepare health profile& at risk of children in the age group of (0-5 years) in the service of Rural Area of Kishanganj District.Children constitute the most vulnerable section of the community. The health status of children serves as sensitive indicator of overall health of entire community. The major causes of deaths in the age group 0-5 years are preventable. At Risk group is a group of individuals in whom the frequency of risk factors is more than the other groups. It is therefore necessary to identify particularly those 'At Risk' and provide them with efficient paediatric services, because it is these 'At Risk' babies, which contribute so largely to perinatal, neonatal and infant mortality Methods: A community based cross sectional study was carried out in a rural area of Kishanganj district during period of January 2018 to November 2019 to identify prevalence of At Risk under five children and associated demographic, socioeconomic and environmental factors. Sample size taken was 350. By systematic sampling method every 15th house was selected for the study. Results: In present study the most frequently seen risk factor was weight below 70% of expected weight for age. It was found in 165 (47.1%) of children as seen in table 1. Followed by birth weight less than 2500 grams seen in 35.7% children, Introduction of bottle feeding before 6 months seen in 32% children, delay in giving supplementary weaning food seen in 26% children, birth spacing less than 2 years seen in 26.3 % of children. Conclusion: The nutritional status of children below six years in rural areas is yet to be improved as one out of ten children are malnutrition. This condition needs to be changed by the better implementation of maternal and child health programmes.

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