Coverage of food consumption assessment in children participating in the Healthy Growth Program - Brazil, 2015-2018

This study aimed to compare the prevalence of food consumption assessment coverage in children under 10 years old before and after the implementation of the Healthy Growth Program (HGP). In this sense, a cross-sectional study was conducted using data from 548 municipalities registered in the HGP and available in the Food and Nutritional Surveillance System of the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The food consumption assessment coverage indicator was analyzed per geographic regions, a Chi-square test was performed and the Prevalence Ratios (PR) and their respective 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) were estimated. Food consumption assessment coverage increased from 0.25% in 2015 to 1.78% in 2018 (PR=7.09; 95%CI 7.00;7.18). The Southern region showed the highest and the Midwestern region the lowest increase in food consumption coverage. Although food consumption assessment coverage has increased less than the five-percent target set by the HGP, there has been an improvement in monitoring the nutritional status of children, which requires developing actions that support mapping the food and nutritional scenario of children in Brazil.