A Survey of Nutrition and Parasitic Infection of Rural Young Children in the Family Health Project Area in Korea

농촌(農村) 가정보건사업지역(家庭保健事業地域)의 어린이 영양(營養) 및 기생충조사

A survey of nutrition and incidence of parasites was conducted from January 23 to 31 and February 14 to 18, 1981, to determine the nutritional status of young children under the age of 6 years, in one of the rural family health project areas: Whaseoung-gun, Kyunggi-do, Korea. This study covered a total of 233 children. The results are summarised as follows: Approximately one-half of these families had an annual income between \1,000,000 and \2,500,000. Nearly 84% of the households were involved in farming. Energy intake of children met 70.6% of the requirement: carhohydrates provided 77%, protein provided 11%, and fat provided 12% of the total energy intake. Low intake of iron; calcium; and vitamins, excluding thiamin, was also found. Mean hemoglobin value was $10.6{\pm}1.0gm/100ml.;\;42%$ of subjects were categorized as low group, 22% were in the deficient group, and only 36% were at an acceptable level as indicated by O'Neal. Thus, 22% of the subjects were proven to be anemic by the hemoglobin criteria. Mean hematocrit value was $30.1{\pm}2.8%$, and 80 of 208 children, or 38.4% of subjects, were below 30% of the standard established by O'Neal. The positive prevalence of parasitic infection was 20% , significantly higher than that observed in the Yowido compound (5.5%) in 1980. Hematologic findings had no significant correlation to parasitic infection. The majority, 95.2% of the subjects, met or surpassed 90% of the KlST's standard of height:whtile 28. 6% of the subjects were below 90% of the KIST's standard of weight. The ratio of weight to height for boys 4 to 6 years old was 15.8 to 17.5, in contrast to 16.3 to 16.9 for boys of KHDI project areas, and also in contrast to 17.7 to 17.9 for boys of the same age group from the Yowido apartment compound in Seoul. According to the results of the assessments, the authors found a clear difference in growth values, hematologic findings and dietary patterns between rural areas and advantaged urban areas of Seoul. Our results suggest the need to develop the nutrition and parasite control training of village women for better nutritional care of their young children.