Integrated Child Developmental Services (ICDS) has played an important
role in improving the health and education of children of India [1]. The
state of Kerala has better health and socio-economic indicators compared
to most other parts of the country. However, there are not many studies
assessing the utilization of Anganwadi services in Kerala [2-4]. This
study was done in a rural area near Kochi. In the first stage of
sampling, we selected four wards randomly. In the selected wards, the
investigators visited consecutive houses in all directions from the
entry point to the ward. We collected data from 352 households regarding
utilization of Anganwadi services in the past 1 year. The information
was obtained from an adult member present at the time of visit,
preferably a lady.
In our sampling frame, 136 families had children
below 6 years, 66 families had adolescent girls (11-19), and 193 women
were in reproductive age group out of which 26 were lactating or
pregnant. All respondents knew about Anganwadi; 79% were aware of
supplementary nutrition provided from there. Respondents had average
(71.4%) or good (8.5%) knowledge about services provided to children
below 3 years, but not to other age groups.
Only 40 (70%) out of 57 families who had children
below 3 years and only 43 (54%) out of 79 families with children between
4-6 years availed the Anganwadi facilities. Just 6 (9%) out of 66
adolescent girls and 5 (19%) out of 26 pregnant/lactating women availed
these services. Only 2 out of 193 women in the reproductive age group of
19-45 utilized the ICDS services.
76% of all respondents who availed the facilities
were completely satisfied with the services. Of those, who were not
satisfied, 64% did not mention any specific reason and 23% felt that the
facilities were inadequate. Those who did not avail the facilities did
so because they were not interested (50%).
The survey indicates that Anganwadi services for
children are under-utilized. Among other age groups, very few utilized
ICDS services. There is an urgent need to carry out qualitative studies
to know more about the reasons for non-utilization and expectations from
these services.
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2. Sivanesan S, Kumar A, Kulkarni MM, Kamath A,
Shetty A. Utilization of Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS)
scheme by child beneficiaries in Coastal Karnataka, India. Indian J
Community Health. 2016;28:132-8.
3. Surwade JB, Mantri SB, Wadagale AV. Utilization of
ICDS scheme in urban and rural area of Latur district with special
reference to pediatric beneficiaries. Int J Recent Trends Sci Technol.
2013;5:107-10.
4. Athira C, Maneesh P. Adoloscence girls development and ICDS: A
case study of anganwadi centres in Kannur District, Kerala. Indian J
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