indian council of medical research - Pondicherry University DSpace ...

a long~tud~nal survey was conducted Instead of a one tlme d~etary survey For th~s
purpose d~etary history was ellc~ted for each chtld by 24 hour recall dunng monthly
v~stts Thus, there were 12 0bSe~atl0nS for dtetary Intake for each ch~ld The average
tntake of nutrients was calculated for each chlld and subsequently for each age The
nutrltlve values were calculated us~ng standard methods (Anonymous1990
Swamlnathan,l992) All the lnformat~on pertatntng to morb~d~ty and dtetary Intake was
entered on a predes~gned and pretested proforma (Append~xl)
3 Records from the PHC and VHN
The average dally attendance of children between 5-15 yearsof age at the PHC was
obtatned from the records rna~ntained at the PHC for a period of 3 months (July,1996-
September,l996). However, details of illnesses could not be obtained because of poor
record~ng
The VHN maintains a good record of all tllnesses treated by her. Details of illnesses
treated by her in children between 5-15 years of age were collected every month for a
pertod of 1 year from January, 1996 to December, 1996.
3 Tertiary care hospital
Data on morbidity In school age children was collected from the tertlary care hosp~tal
(JIPMER) to get a wider perspective of the nature of illness In them. Once a week,
data Nas collected from the new outpatient case records of ch~ldren between 5-15
years of age. Thts was done for one year from June,1996 to May,1997. Care was
taken to see that data were collected equally from all week days excluding Sundays