Abstract

PIP: The neglect of nutrition in primary health care is widespread despite the severity of malnutrition in the world today. Some of the reasons for this situation include a lack of definition, i.e. nutrition is considered a continuous daily need, not a health intervention; it is often a difficult task to solicit participation from the mothers; nutrition is often not an acutely felt need, thus there is no demand; nutrition requires continuous action on a daily basis, but produces no visible results; and finally actions aimed at malnutrition or even its prevention often do not seem to work. Nutrition interventions often do not work because the interventions come too late, often when permanent stunting of the child's growth has already occurred. Since inadequate nutrition can not be seen in the early stages, growth monitoring can be used as a feedback mechanism to stimulate appropriate feeding responses. For a mother to become involved in growth monitoring 4 elements are necessary: 1) she must be aware of the problem or situation, 2) she must be motivated to respond, 3) she must have the knowledge and skills of how to feed, what to feed, and when to feed, and 4) She must have the means to act, i.e. food must be available to give the child. Many growth monitoring programs have failed because the mother was not involved, and never perceives the problem, therefore she never acts. If growth monitoring is integrated into the primary health care system, it also becomes a regular time for health education in other topics. Disease and death are more often found in children who are malnourished, thus primary health care interventions are likely to be more effective in the presence of effective nutrition interventions.