Assessment of the Growth Profile of Preschool Children in the Rural Areas of Bayelsa State, Nigeria

The growth profile of preschool children living in some rural areas of Bayelsa state was studied. The number of children studied was three hundred (300) out of which 158 were males and 142 were females. The result from the analysis of the anthropometric data obtained showed 93.5% of the children to be normal, 6.5% have mild PEM while non of the children had moderate nor severe PEM. The standard used for this study was the NCHS/WHO (1977) anthropometric data. The overall mean (x) weight for-age-for the male children was 17.5kg while that for the female children was 17.0kg.on the other hand, the overall mean (x) height for-age-for both male and female children is 1.11m. The mean height for-age-for female children aged 2, 3.5 and 5 years was higher than that of the male children by 0.3, 0.1 and 0.11m. the mean weight for-age-for male children and 2,3, 3.5 and 5 years is higher than that of the female children by 0.7kg , 0.3kg, 0.7kg and 1.11kg respectively. The occupational level of the parent is reflected on the growth profile of the children, for instance parent whose occupation were carpenters and unemployed contributed immensely to the 6.5% of children having mild PEM. The result showed that the children are well nourished. This is contrary to what is popularly believed of children in the childworld countries. Key word: Protein Energy Malnutrition, World Health Organisation, National Center For Health Statistic, Anthropometry