Impact Assessment of a Supplementary Food on Nutritional Status

Abstract

In Sri Lanka as other developing countries, malnutrition is one of the major public heath problem affecting specially to the children. Many supplementary feeding programs carried out by the Department of Health and other nongovernment authorities to reduce the malnutrition among vulnerable groups. But Impact assessment of supplementary feeding programs are not evaluated by any one or any organization yet. The survey was carried out to identify, the effectiveness o f the supplementary feeding programs among vulnerable groups. The objectives of the survey were to determine the composition of the supplementary food, Determine the current nutritional status of the children in the particular area and determine the effect o f supplementary food on improvement of nutritional status. To determine the composition of the supplementary food, chemical analysis was carried out and find out the % of protein, fat, moisture, ash and crude fibre content. In general, evaluation of the impact of supplementary food on the nutritional status of vulnerable groups will focus establishing whether or not the population malnourished individual has decreased within specific time period. Malnutrition being defined by the any one of the following three indicators singly or in combination. They are. Weight for age (under weight), height for age(stunting), weight for height (wasting) In identifying the nutritional status it has been the recent practice to use the method suggested by WHO, i.e. z-scores and NCHS reference standards. So the survey was carried out using the NCSH standards. Before starting the feeding program, detecting the nutritional status of children (3 to 5 year) in the area was done. Then they were divided into two groups and one was led with the supplementaly food while other was not fed. Height and weight measurements were collected by fortnightly. After four months, populations were compared using statistical method.