Analysis of Nutrition Specific Intervention by Supplementing Super Cereal Plus and Management of Moderately Acute Malnourished Children on 6-59 Months of Age in Ali Akber Dail Union of Kutubdia, Cox’s Bazar

Abstract

Malnutrition is a foremost reason for mortality and morbidity in children aged less than 5 years, particularly in underdeveloped countries. Compared to children who are not malnourished and those who are moderately acute malnourished children have different nutritional needs. One of the main strategies for treatment of children with moderately acute malnutrition (MAM) is to use a readily available and suitable supplementary food. The purpose of this study to assess the efficacy of super cereal plus provided for the treatment of moderately acute malnourished children at 6-59 month age and identify the weight gain of children from Ali Akber Dail union, Kutubdia upazila of Cox’s Bazar. Anthropometry measurements were conducted to identify the nutritional status of children aged 6 to 59 months.A total 542 respondents were assessed for this study.255 respondents were receiving super cereal plus and 207 respondents were getting counselling only. The daily ration size was 200g for intervention group.We analyzed weight gain of children among two groups. Socio-demographic data were analyzed by chi-square test where significance level for all analysis were set at p<0.05. This study showed that 18% of mothers had no institutional education, 67% mothers had only primary school education, 9% had secondary education and 6% mothers had higher secondary education in group 1.On the other hand 22% of mothers had no institutional education, 45% of mothers were only primary school pass, 18% mothers had secondary education, 4% mothers had higher secondary education and 3% mothers were honours pass in group 2. The mean weight gain after 4 months in two groups-Group 1(Super cereal plus) & Group 2(Counselling) are (1.1976 ± 0.36) and (0.58 ± 0.28) respectively. After 4 months of enrollment period, the weight gain rate is higher for Group1( Super cereal plus) child in compare to Group 2( Counselling) child. However, the significance level is less than P=0.05.