A study of the impact of the corrective programme for the very poor malnourished preschool children in Kelantan, Malaysia
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Date
2001-11
Authors
Yusoff, Haniah
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
Introduction: The Corrective Programme for Malnourished Children (CPMC) is
an ongoing national programme to combat problem of undernutrition especially among
the very low socioeconomic group. It was launched by the Ministry of Health in 1989.
The children will receive a basket of food every month which contain balance nutritional
requirement such as rice, wheat flour, anchovy, green beans, sugar, formula milk, cooked
oil, margarine, biscuits, multivitamin and iron supplement. Their weight and height were
monitored every month and health education was given by the public health nurse to the
parents in terms of food preparation and personal hygiene.
Objective: This historical prospective cohort study was done to examine the
changes in the nutritional status of the undernourished preschool children (0-7 years) in
Kelantan after receiving food baskets under the Corrective Programme of Malnourished
Children (CPMC).
Methodology: Cases were selected from two districts by a cluster sampling.
Samples of 166 undernourished pre school children in the programme were included.
Three measurements were chosen for evaluation of the effectiveness of the programme,
which were age, weight and height. These three measurements were combined to form
three nutritional indices based on Z score, namely weight-for-age, height-for-age and
weight-for -height.
Results: The mean z-scores for weight-for-age improved after the programme from
-2.17 to -1.93 (p=O.OOO), the mean Z-scores for height-for-age improved from -1.66 to-
1.36 (p=0.002) and the mean Z-scores for weight-for-height improved from -1.35 to-
1.04 (p=0.001). There were significant associations between the age, duration of
supplementation, birth spacing and number of family members with the changes in the z-scores Conclusion: This study showed that the Corrective Programme for Malnourished
Children (CPMC) had a beneficial impact on the nutritional status of the very poor
malnourished preschool children in Kelantan.
Recommendation: It is recommended that the Corrective Programme of
Malnourished Children (CPMC) to be strengthened and integrated into the rapid progress
of the socioeconomic development in this country.
Description
Keywords
Corrective Programme for Malnourished Children (CPMC)