This paper investigates the present status of infant health in India through percentages of infants who are undernourished, not immunized or diseased and finds its relationship with socio-demographic variables. The re...This paper investigates the present status of infant health in India through percentages of infants who are undernourished, not immunized or diseased and finds its relationship with socio-demographic variables. The relevant data have been obtained from the Third National Family Health Survey which was carried out in 2005-2006 in India. The sample consists of 7562 infants (i.e., children of less than 1 year). For socio-demographic data, places of residence, sex of infants, ethnic composition, religion and wealth index were considered. Considering the different types of under-nutrition, it has been found from our data that the percentages of undernourished infants range from 22 to 28 only. There are considerable variations in the different types of immunization status ranging from 17.9% opting for measles vaccination to 73.2% taking BCG vaccination. Prevalence of morbidity also varies from 15 to 22 percent depending on the three types of morbidity considered in this paper. Among the socio-economic variables, mother’s education and wealth index have been found to have profound effect on the nutritional status and also on morbidity of infants but there is no impact found on the status immunization. Thus it gives clear cut indications for the government and NGOs to take actions to ameliorate poverty and to improve the level of education, especially of female population in India.展开更多
The mean height-for-age Z-score(HAZ)of children under five is an important indicator of the health status of a population.HAZ values are frequently aggregated and reported at the national level,potentially obscuring i...The mean height-for-age Z-score(HAZ)of children under five is an important indicator of the health status of a population.HAZ values are frequently aggregated and reported at the national level,potentially obscuring important within-country variation.We evaluated aggregation and interpolation methods to provide sub-national estimates over space and time,using survey data from Nigeria in 1990,2003,2008,and 2013.We aggregated HAZ values by region and by state,and interpolated the values spatially and spatio-temporally using thin plate splines.The results were evaluated with cross-validation using the root mean squared error(RMSE)as a measure of goodness of fit.Mean HAZ values increased from 1990 to 2013,but values rose more sharply in southern Nigeria than in the North.All methods performed better than assuming a constant national average.The state-level aggregation,and the spatial and spatio-temporal interpolations had similar RMSE values,but the interpolation methods showed more detailed spatial variation.Spatio-temporal interpolation produced good results in all conditions,including in years with sparse sampling and when extrapolating to years for which there were no observations.展开更多
文摘This paper investigates the present status of infant health in India through percentages of infants who are undernourished, not immunized or diseased and finds its relationship with socio-demographic variables. The relevant data have been obtained from the Third National Family Health Survey which was carried out in 2005-2006 in India. The sample consists of 7562 infants (i.e., children of less than 1 year). For socio-demographic data, places of residence, sex of infants, ethnic composition, religion and wealth index were considered. Considering the different types of under-nutrition, it has been found from our data that the percentages of undernourished infants range from 22 to 28 only. There are considerable variations in the different types of immunization status ranging from 17.9% opting for measles vaccination to 73.2% taking BCG vaccination. Prevalence of morbidity also varies from 15 to 22 percent depending on the three types of morbidity considered in this paper. Among the socio-economic variables, mother’s education and wealth index have been found to have profound effect on the nutritional status and also on morbidity of infants but there is no impact found on the status immunization. Thus it gives clear cut indications for the government and NGOs to take actions to ameliorate poverty and to improve the level of education, especially of female population in India.
文摘The mean height-for-age Z-score(HAZ)of children under five is an important indicator of the health status of a population.HAZ values are frequently aggregated and reported at the national level,potentially obscuring important within-country variation.We evaluated aggregation and interpolation methods to provide sub-national estimates over space and time,using survey data from Nigeria in 1990,2003,2008,and 2013.We aggregated HAZ values by region and by state,and interpolated the values spatially and spatio-temporally using thin plate splines.The results were evaluated with cross-validation using the root mean squared error(RMSE)as a measure of goodness of fit.Mean HAZ values increased from 1990 to 2013,but values rose more sharply in southern Nigeria than in the North.All methods performed better than assuming a constant national average.The state-level aggregation,and the spatial and spatio-temporal interpolations had similar RMSE values,but the interpolation methods showed more detailed spatial variation.Spatio-temporal interpolation produced good results in all conditions,including in years with sparse sampling and when extrapolating to years for which there were no observations.
