Kwashiorkor, Symptoms And Preventive Measures

 Kwashiorkor is a form of under nutrition caused due to deficiency of protein in children. Kwashiorkor develops when, after prolonged breast feeding, a child is weaned onto and inadequate traditional diet of starchy food. It is most common in children between ages of one to five years, particularly to the first baby if the second one is born after short birth spacing.

Symptoms 

• Loss of appetite, diarrhoea and general discomfort.
• Under weight upto sixty to eighty percent of normal weight.
• Broken skin with remarkable races.
• Change in skin colour.
• Moon face, dry scaly and rough skin.
• Enlarged stomach and liver.
• Accumulation of fluid round feet area in the beggining and its extension through out the body.

Prevention And Control 

• Awareness and education program on the knowledge and importance of nutrition, balanced diet and social of nutritive values.
• Identification of children suffering from malnutrition.
• Supply of protein-rich food stuffs to the children.
• Prilonged breast feeding to the children.
• Potection of children from infectious disease and proper immunisation.