Abstract:
Malnutrition in infants, young children, and
pregnant and lactating mothers is a serious problem and an
important cause of ill health and mortality in Sri Lanka.
The problem .of protein energy malnutrition that affects
millions of children in the world is firmly rooted in the
cultural pattern, dietary habits and the general socioeconomic
condition of the people. These are important
factors to be considered in raising the nutritional status
of the vulnerable groups in the community. The paucity of
information on some aspects of these factors prompted me
to under take this study.
In this project the epidemiology of protein energy
malnutrition was studied, with emphasis on sociocultural
factors contributing to the nutritional problems among
pre-school children in. four estates in the Kandy Superintendent
of Health Services (SHS) area.
Estates in the Kandy SHS area were selected for study
because the prevalence of protein energy malnutrition (PEM)
is highest'in the Kandy SHS area, and also because, out of
the three islandwide population sectors (viz. urban, rural
and estate) the highest prevalence of PEM is in the estate
sector.
Assessments were made of the nutritional status of
the pre-school children anthropometrically and biochemically.
In addition the educational and work status of parents,
weaning and infant feeding practices, dietary patterns of
the children, food taboos, beliefs, prejudices, customs
and avoidances during infancy, pregnancy and lactation,
food purchasing and consumption pattern of the family,
maternal nutritional status, the level of their basic
nutritional knowledge, and demographic data (e.g. family
size, number of pre-school children, birth rank) which were
thought to be relevant to malnutrition were also studied.
A questionnaire was used for the socioeconomic survey, and
the 24 hour recall method was adopted for the dietary
survey. Data thus obtained revealed the widespread
prevalence of malnutrition among children in the target
population and allowed examination of the relationships
between the various factors affecting the nutritional status
of the children.
The field work reported in this thesis was performed
in 1980/8i and: the blood samples collected during this period
were analysed in 1981.