Burden of childhood diseases and malnutrition in a semi-urban slum in southern India

BMC Public Health

Gagandeep Kang¹  Honorine Ward³  Elena N Naumova²  Vinohar Balraj⁴  Jayaprakash Muliyil⁴  Sitara Swarna Rao Ajjampur¹  Kulandaipalayam Natarajan Chella Sindhu¹  Bhuvaneshwari Thangaraj¹  Prabhu Sivarathinaswamy¹  Rajiv Sarkar¹ 

[1] Department of Gastrointestinal Sciences, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, 632004, India;Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Tufts University School of Engineering, Medford, MA, 02155, USA;Division of Geographic Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Tufts Medical Center, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, 02111, USA;Community Health Department, Christian Medical College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, 632002, India

关键词: India;    Longitudinal study;    Slum;    Incidence;    Morbidity;    Children;   

Others  :  1162592
DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-13-87

 received in 2012-08-02, accepted in 2012-12-27,  发布年份 2013

【 摘 要 】

Background

India has seen rapid unorganized urbanization in the past few decades. However, the burden of childhood diseases and malnutrition in such populations is difficult to quantify. The morbidity experience of children living in semi-urban slums of a southern Indian city is described.

Methods

A total of 176 children were recruited pre-weaning from four geographically adjacent, semi-urban slums located in the western outskirts of Vellore, Tamil Nadu for a study on water safety and enteric infections and received either bottled or municipal drinking water based on their area of residence. Children were visited weekly at home and had anthropometry measured monthly until their second birthday.

Results

A total of 3932 episodes of illness were recorded during the follow-up period, resulting in an incidence of 12.5 illnesses/child-year, with more illness during infancy than in the second year of life. Respiratory, mostly upper respiratory infections, and gastrointestinal illnesses were most common. Approximately one-third of children were stunted at two years of age, and two-thirds had at least one episode of growth failure during the two years of follow up. No differences in morbidity were seen between children who received bottled and municipal water.

Conclusions

Our study found a high burden of childhood diseases and malnutrition among urban slum dwellers in southern India. Frequent illnesses may adversely impact children’s health and development, besides placing an additional burden on families who need to seek healthcare and find resources to manage illness.

【 授权许可】

   
2013 Sarkar et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

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