Surveillance methodology for planning, and evaluation of nutritional states

In developing countries in general, malnutrition has been widely reported as a major public health problem. Most of morbidity and mortality in these countries especially in the under fives are attributed to nutritional deficiencies at least in part. However, documentation of malnutritional problems in these countries is inadequate for monitoring, planning and coordination of control programmes. The data that is collected in few instances where this is accomplished is insufficient for a meaningful analysis. This paper suggests some simple epidemiological techniques which could be routinely employed using the existing health personnel to monitor and document temporal trends and types of data required for useful understanding of the problem.