A Growth Chart For International Use In Maternal And Child Health Care

The measurement and interpretation of growth in childhood is the most widespread assessment instrument for individual and community health and nutrition status. Current use of growth charts were assessed on an international basis in 1972. Chart requirements were defined; a prototype chart was developed, tested, and evaluated for international use. The resulting growth chart is a simple, inexpensive, and easy-to-use means of monitoring child health and nutrition in local health services. Basic health data is organized and presented for use in 1) assessing current health status; 2) projecting growth trends; 3) defining levels of care. The visual character of the chart provides the health worker with a useful, educational instrument to understand growth and development and the consequences of inadequate diet and infectious diseases. It allows greater maternal responsibilities for child care. The guide to the use of growth charts presents a model chart which can be easily adapted to lacal needs.

Written to assist managers of child health programs, this publication explains the features and uses of a simple visual chart for monitoring childhood growth and detecting changes in nutritional and health status. The first part of the book introduces the basic principles and procedures for measuring changes in growth and knowing when these changes signal a deterioration in health. Highly practical information on the design and use of growth charts is presented. In order to ensure that growth charts are understood and properly used by community health workers, the book alerts program managers to specific problems of design, presentation, recording, or interpretation that should be considered when developing or adapting a chart for local use. Illustrations show a prototype chart and modified versions developed to meet special needs in India, Indonesia, Colombia, Thailand, and Brazil. The book also shows how such charts can be used for the education of mothers in appropriate feeding practices and the development of a medical history. The second part of the book offers guidelines for training health workers to use the chart. Information ranges from important points to stress when teaching weighing procedures to examples of cases where growth information might be misinterpreted. (RH)

This book addresses health and healthcare issues in India with a special focus on the Northeast region. Pursuing a multidisciplinary approach, it highlights key issues in health and healthcare and outlines the actions needed to achieve the desired results in these areas as laid out in the UN Millennium Development Goals. In addition to introducing some new questions on health and healthcare development, it presents cross-country analyses, and examines the convergence of healthcare across Indian states, as well as mortality and morbidity in the Northeast. The book also explores the regional complexities involved in the discussion of these topics. It presents a number of specific techniques, such as two-level logistic regression, analysis of mental health, probabilistic and predictive analysis of nutritional deficit, and generalized linear mixed models, that can be used to analyze mortality and morbidity and factors affecting out-of-pocket expenses in the healthcare context. Lastly, it presents concrete case studies substantiating the theoretical models discussed. As such, the book offers a valuable resource for health researchers, professionals and policymakers alike.