Nabarun Karmakar1, Anjan Datta2, Kaushik Nag3, Partha Bhattacharjee4, Kaushik Tripura5, Simul Singha6
BACKGROUND
Children are the future human resources but represent a vulnerable group. Poor health during this age is likely to permanently impair them over the course of their lives and various factors are responsible for causing high morbidity in under-five children.
Objectives- To study morbidity profile of under-five children and to find out association between childhood morbidity and sociodemographic factors, if any.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A community-based cross-sectional study was done among 250 under-five children from July 2015 to June 2016 in the peri-urban areas of Dukli, West Tripura. Study participants were selected by simple random sampling and data was collected by interviewing mothers with pretested questionnaire and examining under-five children. Data was analysed using SPSS v19.0 and a p value less than 0.05 was considered as statistically significant.
RESULTS
Some form of morbidity was found in 196 children giving a prevalence rate of 78.4%. The most common illness was acute respiratory infection (85.7%) followed by anaemia (43.9%). Morbidity was found to be significantly associated with occupation of mother and immunisation status of child (p< 0.05).
CONCLUSION
The study revealed a high childhood morbidity, which was more in communicable disease burden compared to non-communicable diseases morbidity among under-five children in peri-urban area. As mothers are the first care-givers, they should be made aware of the preventive measures and the need for seeking timely treatment.
