Nutrition for Special Groups

Nutrition for Special Groups 3(3+0)

Lesson 5 : Health Status of Mothers and Children

Introduction

From the total world population about 24% are women and 36% are children below 15 years. Together they form 60% or a major chunk of the world’s population and are groups highly vulnerable to malnutrition. Various indicators are used to measure the extent of malnutrition in these groups.

Morbidity and Mortality in a particular group do not clearly reflect health status and therefore are not used for that purpose. New and positive indicators of health are emerging which give a better picture. Birth weight is an important example as it reflects both past and present health status of the mother. It is sensitive in predicting an infant’s survival and subsequent health.

In well developed countries MMR is 5-30 per 100,000 live births. In India it is reported to be 301. That is, 301 mothers die during delivery or within 42 days after delivery, for one lakh live births. Rates of over 1000 per 100,000 have been reported from African countries. Worldwide 600,000 women die from pregnancy related causes annually