Upadhyay Jagat Prasad, Paneru Damaru Prasad, Sharma Yam Prasad, Khadka Nava Raj
School of Health and Allied Sciences, Pokhara University, Pokhara, Nepal.
Government of Gandaki Province, Ministry of Health, Health Office Gorkha, Gorkha, Nepal.
BMC Nutr. 2024 Dec 19;10(1):164. doi: 10.1186/s40795-024-00978-z.
Promotion of child health during the first thousand days from conception to the child's second birthday is vital for survival, growth and development. Growth monitoring and promotion services are key to the early detection of growth faltering and preventing malnutrition and promoting child health. This study aimed to assess the utilization of Growth Monitoring and Promotion (GMP) services and its associated factors among young children in Gorkha district of Nepal.
A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in the Gorkha district, involving 290 mother-child pairs, from April 2024 to June 2024. Multistage random sampling was used to select mothers. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics involving multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify the factors associated with GMP service utilization.
Only 5.5% of children had completed the recommended 24 GMP visits according to protocol, while 23.8% utilized GMP services more than 15 times, which represents the 75th percentile of service utilization. Mothers who had good knowledge had significantly higher (adjusted OR = 4.23, 95% CI: 2.070-8.650, p < 0.001) GMP service utilization among their children than those counterpart mothers with poor knowledge about the GMP services. The main reasons for not regular utilizing GMP services included the time constraints and their household responsibilities (85%).
This study reported the low utilization of GMP services among children in Gorkha district. Maternal knowledge on GMP service emerged as the primary predictor of GMP service utilization and maternal engagement in the household activities explores as a leading barrier to GMP service utilization. Enhancing maternal knowledge through community engagement strategies and improving the monitoring mechanism within the health systems could increase GMP utilization.
从受孕到孩子两岁生日的头一千天里促进儿童健康对于生存、生长和发育至关重要。生长监测与促进服务是早期发现生长发育迟缓、预防营养不良以及促进儿童健康的关键。本研究旨在评估尼泊尔戈尔哈地区幼儿对生长监测与促进（GMP）服务的利用情况及其相关因素。
2024年4月至2024年6月在戈尔哈地区开展了一项基于社区的横断面研究，涉及290对母婴。采用多阶段随机抽样法选取母亲。通过使用结构化问卷进行面对面访谈收集数据。进行描述性统计和涉及多变量逻辑回归分析的推断性统计，以确定与GMP服务利用相关的因素。
只有5.5%的儿童按照规程完成了建议的24次GMP访视，而23.8%的儿童使用GMP服务超过15次，这代表了服务利用的第75百分位数。对GMP服务有良好认知的母亲，其孩子的GMP服务利用率显著高于（调整后的比值比=4.23，95%置信区间：2.070 - 8.650，p<0.001）那些对GMP服务认知较差的母亲。不经常使用GMP服务的主要原因包括时间限制和家务责任（85%）。
本研究报告了戈尔哈地区儿童对GMP服务的利用率较低。母亲对GMP服务的认知成为GMP服务利用的主要预测因素，而母亲参与家务活动被发现是GMP服务利用的主要障碍。通过社区参与策略提高母亲的认知水平以及改善卫生系统内的监测机制可以提高GMP服务利用率。
