Abstract:
This study attempted to find the effect of displacement on the health status of the children
under five years. It was a welfare centre based descriptive cross sectional study. The study
design consisted of three components: data collection by interviewer administered
questionnaire, anthropometric measurement (weight ,height) and morbidity pattern. The
study sample comprised of 400 children under five years of age in welfare centers of
Vavuniya District. Over half (51 percent) of the displaced children under study were
subjected to moderate or severe stunting. This includes 17 per cent who are severely stunted.
Another 28 per cent children are stunted to a mild degree. About one third of the children in
the study sample were subjected to moderate and severe level of wasting.72 per cent of the
children in the study sample were subjected to moderate and severe underweight. About one
third of the children in the study sample had delayed mile stones development of all four
types. The most commonly presenting psychological symptom was temper tantrum. The
children in the study sample were affected mainly by RTI, diarrhoea, scabies, malaria and
fever. The leading causes for hospitalization among these children by recall and hospital
records were diarrhoea, RTI, malaria and fever. This study recommends to implement a
systematic sustainable nutrition supplementation programme and to resettle these families
without delay.
