Hong Kong Journal of Paediatrics
Volume 10, Issue 2, 2005, Pages 101-108+163

Refugee children in India: A comparative study (Article)

Bazroy J.* , Panda P. , Purty A.J. , Philip B.
  • a Department of Community Medicine, Pondicherry Inst. of Med. Sciences, Kalapet, Pondicherry, India
  • b Department of Community Medicine, Pondicherry Inst. of Med. Sciences, Kalapet, Pondicherry, India
  • c Department of Community Medicine, Pondicherry Inst. of Med. Sciences, Kalapet, Pondicherry, India
  • d Department of Community Medicine, Pondicherry Inst. of Med. Sciences, Kalapet, Pondicherry, India

Abstract

A cross sectional survey was conducted to compare parent background, child rearing practices, nutritional and morbidity status of under-five children in two study populations located in Tamilnadu, India - a Tamil Refugee camp from Sri Lanka and a local Fishermen community. A total of 125 and 136 under-five children were contacted in the Refugee camp and the Fishermen community respectively. The literacy status of the Refugee camp parents (fathers = 92.8%, mothers = 89.6%) was higher than the Fishermen community parents (fathers = 77.2%, mothers = 72.0%). Mothers of the Refugee camp practiced significant longer duration of breastfeeding and earlier food supplementation. More than 90% of the under-five children were fully immunised and about 35% of them were found to be malnourished in both study populations. Fishermen community had significantly more number of children with pallor, lymphadenopathy, dental caries and respiratory infection. Under-five children of the Refugee camp have a better health status than the local Fishermen community which possibly is due to higher literacy status and better child rearing practices by the Refugee camp mothers.

Author Keywords

Fishermen Refugee Under-five children

Index Keywords

refugee respiratory tract infection India fisherman health survey human ethnic group comparative study morbidity lymphadenopathy Breast Feeding male female Child Rearing dental caries population research Article major clinical study diet supplementation pallor malnutrition parental behavior nutritional status Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-17444412291&partnerID=40&md5=188190507c9e06101c8aba23855806eb
ISSN: 10139923
Cited by: 5
Original Language: English