15.6.2  How to classify nutritional status and anaemia

As you read in Study Session 7, adequate feeding is essential for a child’s growth and development. Poor feeding during infancy can have a lifelong effect, so recognising problems and improving feeding if necessary is an important task for you as a Health Extension Practitioner.

There are six classifications for a child’s nutritional status and anaemia:

• Severe malnutrition
• Very low weight
• Not very low weight
• Severe anaemia
• Anaemia
• No anaemia.

Take another look at the descriptions in Study Session 7 of this Module, if you need to remind yourself how to assess nutritional status and anaemia, and what recommendations you can give a mother for feeding her infant and young children in ways appropriate to their age and needs.