Effect of Ready to use therapeutic food RUTF in management of Malnutrition among children of age group 1 yr to 5 yrs at selected community of Bilaspur Chhattisgarh

Abstract

Children of today are citizens of tomorrow, which is why it is extremely important to ensure proper health care services as well as adequate nutritional intake for the children. It is now globally acknowledged that investment in human resource development is a pre requisite for any nation. Early childhood, that is the first six years constitutes the most crucial period in life, when the foundations are laid for cognitive, social and emotional language, physical / motor development and cumulative lifelong learning. The young child under 3 years is most vulnerable to the vicious cycles of malnutrition, disease / infection and resultant disability, all of which influence the present condition of a child at micro level and the future human resource development of the nation at the macro level. Thus the utmost importance of the findings on the nutritional and mortality status of the children can never be over emphasized. India is among the countries where child mortality rate is alarmingly high. The problem has caught attention of policy makers and researchers for several decades newline