Study on selected aspects of health status of the displaced children under five years in welfare centres,Vavuniya District

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.