Abstract

PABON PINTO, Margarita María  and  CESPEDES LONDONO, Jaime Aurelio. Health and nutrition status of Providencia and Santa Catalina Island's children population. Rev. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2004, vol.2, n.2, pp.111-123. ISSN 1692-7273.

Obligatory report contagious illnesses still have a significant prevalence in the community. The present study evaluates the health and nutrition status of Providencia and Santa Catalina Island’s children population. Methodology: A health campaign was carried out over a period of 6 days. Children between 0 and 18 years were medically evaluated. Patients were classified according to frequent pathologies, age groups, nutritional status, and affiliation to social security. Results: 366 patients were evaluated, 164 girls and 202 boys. Respiratory acute disease was the third cause of consult among children younger than 4 years. The predominant condition of malnutrition was overweight. More than half of the children population belongs to the subsidiary system. Fruit and vegetable intake is deficient. Conclusions: Public health strategies in Providencia’s population must be directed towards reduction of contagious diseases and overweight prevalence trough basic attention programs.

Keywords : Malnutrition; public health; rural health; child health; Colombia.

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