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. 2013 Jan 30:13:87.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2458-13-87.

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

Rajiv Sarkar  1 , Prabhu Sivarathinaswamy, Bhuvaneshwari Thangaraj, Kulandaipalayam Natarajan Chella Sindhu, Sitara Swarna Rao Ajjampur, Jayaprakash Muliyil, Vinohar Balraj, Elena N Naumova, Honorine Ward, Gagandeep Kang
Affiliations

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

Rajiv Sarkar et al. BMC Public Health. .

Abstract

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.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of cohort recruitment and follow-up.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence (with 95%CI) of (A) stunting and (B) undernutrition among the study children at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months of age. The P-values represent the results of the comparison of prevalence of nutritional parameters between children in the bottled and municipal water cohorts.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The contribution of different illness categories towards the overall morbidity experience of the study children.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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