Study on Health Profile of Government Aided School Children in Urban Slum of Solapur, Southern Maharashtra, India

The study was carried out in school children from lower middle income class families. Most of children’s parents are daily wage workers, working in handloom industry and construction site. The main purpose of this study was to assess the nutritional status and grade of malnutrition according to World Health Organisation (WHO) growth reference standards and to study morbidity pattern and their socio-demographic profile.

The present descriptive cross sectional Study was carried out among 767 students from class Lower Kindergarten to 7th standard of Government aided private school. A pre-designed and pre-tested questionnaire was used to interview and examine all the participated students. Data on height, weight and BMI was transformed into WHO 2007 Z score. Grading of malnutrition was carried out using WHO reference tables. Visual acuity was measured using Snellen’s chart. The collected data was analysed using SPSS 15.0. Chi square test of significance was applied. P < 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.

A total of 767 students participated in this study. Boys were 513(66%) and girls were 254(33%). 339(55%) of the children had dental caries (common morbidity), 339(63%) were underweight, 302(39%) had stunting, 272(35%) had thinness and 26(3%) were found to be obese. Two (0.32%) study subjects had heart problems.

The current investigation reveals a morbidity and malnutrition pattern among schoolchildren. For early detection and treatment of common morbidities, a comprehensive periodic health checkup should be performed. More research is needed to determine the impact of health education.