Health workers trained on new WHO standards to measure child growth

GANGTOK, 27 May: A training on introduction of the new WHO Child Growth Standards in Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) was held here at Pakyong PHC for health functionaries on Thursday.
The daylong programme was organised by the Pakyong Rural ICDS Project (East) of the Social Justice, Empowerment & Welfare Department’s Women & Child Development Division.
World Health Organisation, based on the results of an intensive study initiated in 1997 in six countries including India, developed the New International Standards for assessing the physical growth and nutritional status of children from birth to 5yrs of age for monitoring the growth of children through ICDS and NRHM.
The points discussed at the daylong training by CDPO, Pakyong Rural ICDS Project, YP Pradhan, were:
i) The 'weight for age'- WHO standards adopted in ICDS has revised the Growth Monitoring Chart which describes “how children should grow” rather than “how the child is growing”.
ii) The new chart has three coloured tracks viz: Green, Yellow and Orange instead of the earlier classification lines of Normal, Grade I, Grade II, Grade III and grade IV

Children plotted in the green track are termed Normal; children plotted in the yellow track as moderately underweight and children plotted in the orange track termed as severely underweight.
iii) Separate growth charts for boys and girls have been introduced. Blue for boys and pink for girls as the age of boys and girls would differ slightly.
iv) The grassroot-level functionaries viz ANMs, MPHW Anganwadi workers, ASHA with the help of the new growth chart will be able to assess correctly the underweight children.
A practical session on how to fill up the new growth charts citing examples was also conducted during the training.