Publication

Abstract : Integrated Child Developmental Services (ICDS) has played an important role in improving the health and education of children of India [1]. The state of Kerala has better health and socio-economic indicators compared to most other parts of the country. However, there are not many studies assessing the utilization of Anganwadi services in Kerala [2-4]. This study was done in a rural area near Kochi. In the first stage of sampling, we selected four wards randomly. In the selected wards, the investigators visited consecutive houses in all directions from the entry point to the ward. We collected data from 352 households regarding utilization of Anganwadi services in the past 1 year. The information was obtained from an adult member present at the time of visit, preferably a lady.In our sampling frame, 136 families had children below 6 years, 66 families had adolescent girls (11-19), and 193 women were in reproductive age group out of which 26 were lactating or pregnant. All respondents knew about Anganwadi; 79% were aware of supplementary nutrition provided from there. Respondents had average (71.4%) or good (8.5%) knowledge about services provided to children below 3 years, but not to other age groups.