Original Research Article
Year: 2023 | Month: April | Volume: 13 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 163-169
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20230420
Health of Migrants’ Children Living in Lucknow City: A Community-Based Study
Monika Agarwal1, Sugandha Jauhari1, Rahul Chaturvedi1, Pratyaksha Pandit1, Purnoor Kaur1
1Department of Community Medicine and Public Health, King George’s Medical University UP, Lucknow, India
Corresponding Author: Sugandha Jauhari
ABSTRACT
Background: Migrant workers suffer poor health due to underutilization of existing health services on account of their floating status, they are missed out on very basic registrations for health services like immunization, ANC visits, supplementary nutrition for mother and eventually the child. They form a major chunk of population that is skipped from ongoing attempts of universal health coverage and especially the children become vulnerable.
Objectives: To study the Immunization and Nutritional Status of migrant children of Lucknow and determine their environmental and living conditions.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 217 intrastate and 183 interstate migrant workers in Lucknow. All randomly selected children 6-59 months of age paired with their mothers were the study population. A semi-structured questionnaire was used for interview. Length and Height of the migrant child were measured using horizontal and vertical wooden scale respectively. Weight was measured using seca weighing scale.
Results: Majority of children in these settings were in the age group of 6-12 months (55.8%). 98.4% of interstate and 95.4% of intrastate migrants do not have an immunization card of the child. Only 14.8% of the total children had fully immunized status appropriate to age. It was noted that among children of the interstate migrants, 31.7% were underweight and 25.7% had SAM while among children of the intrastate migrants 33.6% were underweight and 17.5% had SAM. Wasting was present in 40.0% children out of the total, while 33.1% of the total children were stunted. 73.2 of the interstate migrants and 84.3% of the intrastate migrants were living in a kutcha house. A strikingly high percentage of 91.8% interstate and 90.8% intrastate migrants were still resorting to open field defecation. None of the houses had a separate kitchen.
Conclusion: The immunization and nutritional status of the migrant children was very low and poor. The living conditions of the migrant families were also below par. There is an urgent need of effective health policies for the migrant children to ensure their well-being.
Key words: Migrant workers, Urbanization, Stunting, Wasting