Health Bulletin 2009

increasess sharply with the age of the children. Children in the urban areas
and children of
mothers who have completed primary education or higher are more
likely to be fed according to
IYCF recommendation. Feeding
practices in the Rajshahi, Khulna, and Dhakaa are better than
other divisions.
120%
Infant and Young Child Feeding
(IYCF) Practices
100%
80%
57%
58%
60%
89%
40%
20%
43%
42%
0%
11%
Breasted
Non breastfed All 6‐23
months
Fed with all 3 IYCF practices
Non fed with all 3 IYCF practices
Strengthening laboratory activities
The purpose of this activity is to develop the effective laboratory facilities of food and
biochemical aspects of nutrition and to introduce serological tests for nutrition related diseases.
IPHN is running its child nutritionn units (CNUs) to full strength. All laboratory tests for identifying
nutritional status of children and
mothers are routinely done at IPHN laboratory. Iodine content
of salt is also routinely tested.
Nutrition
survey
To assess the nutritional situation surveys are now being carried out in selected districts. The
survey will find answers to questions like impact of price hike on household food security, food
quality and nutritional status of poor women and children in Bangladesh. A survey was done
among 164 families in Bangalipoor union of Saidpur upazila under Nilphamari district.
Child Nutrition Unit
(CNU)
The Institute of Public Health Nutrition is running 20 Child Nutrition
Units, one located at IPHN
and the others in 19
upazila health complexes in each of the greater 19 districts. The program
has provided one nutritionist and
a lady visitor to each center. The overall aim is to improve the
nutritional status of the under- 5 children and mothers of the country. The CNUs provides
services like growth monitoring;
supplementation; complementary
feeding; nutrition corner for
mothers' education on nutrition; breast feeding corner; treatment of malnutrition
and associated problem; referral
center; and
demonstration of home
gardening. IPHN has taken
steps to revitalize and provide more functional supports to CNUs.
National
Rickets Survey , 2008
Rickets is
a disease of children in which growing bones
fail to calcify properly and becomee bent
by the weight of the body and the pull of muscles. Rickets is most common due to a deficiency
of vitamin
D, an essential micronutrient obtained either from the diet or made in the body when
the skin is exposed to sunlight. As vitamin D can be made in the skin, it is uncommon in the
tropical or subtropical countries. When rickets does occur in sunny countries, it is usually due to
other causes, such as calcium deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency
rickets tends to be seen in very
young children who have a soft and enlarged skull, swollen
wrists and ankles and are prone
to respiratory infections. In four different surveys conducted by
the Institute of Child and Mother Health
(ICMH), 1998; Bangladesh Rural Advancement
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