SIGNIFICANCE OF INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT OF CHILDHOOD ILLNESS (IMCI) CHECK SIGNS AND ITS IMPLICATION IN CHILDREN AT PAEDIATRIC OUTDOOR DEPARTMENT

OBJECTIVE: To assess the significance of integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) check signs and its implication in children (aged 2 months to 5 years) at a Paediatric Outdoor Department, Jamshoro/Hyderabad.METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted at a Paediatric Outpatient Department, Liaquat University Hospital, Jamshoro, Hyderabad, Pakistan. The study enrolled 5578 children from July 2015 to June 2016. Children meeting the inclusion criteria were enrolled in study. Detailed history was taken, followed by physical examination of children for assessment of acute malnutrition, anemia, immunization status, mebendazole status and vitamin A supplementation. A pre-designed performa was used to extract data and then analyzed later.RESULTS: Out of 5578 children, 3317 (59.57%) were females while 2261 (40.53%) were males. Mean age of children was 24.78±14.57 months and mean weight of children was 8.67±2.45 kg. Common clinical presentations were cough (n=3036; 37.2%), fever (n=2818; 34.5%), diarrhea (n=1855; 22.7%), ear discharge (n=345; 4.2%), and sore throat (n=118; 1.4%). IMC check-signs regarding immunization status revealed full immunization in 4903 (87.9%) cases, partial immunization in 306 (5.5%) cases and no immunization/vaccination in 369 (6.6%) cases. Other check-signs included anemia (n=1592;    39.7%), mebendazole intake (n=1449; 36.1%), vitamin A intake (n=525; 13.1%) & malnutrition (n=445; 11.1%).CONCLUSION: In our study most of the children were fully vaccinated, half of the population presented to be anaemic, and only few were malnourished. The study also revealed that about 1/3rd of the children consumed mebendazole and one by seventh of the study population had taken vitamin A.