摘要："Introduction: Maternal knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) im-pact child health. This evaluation, conducted by an organization providing health screenings at an-ganwadis (government-sponsored preschools) in south India, com-pared maternal KAP and health outcomes of their 2-5 year-old chil-dren. Methodology: An interview sched-ule was developed based on the Na-tional Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) questionnaires for this cross-sectional study. The random walk method guided data collec-tion. Urban and rural mothers were interviewed and anthropometric measurements of their children col-lected. Scores were calculated for maternal KAP and child health. Results: Surveys were completed by 120 urban and 124 rural mothers. Mothers of children receiving health screenings had the highest mean attitude score. Children in convent schools were the healthiest, with the best child health scores, lowest incidence of ARI (12.7%) and diarrhea (5.5%), and the lowest prevalence of underweight (31.5%) and stunting (41.5%). Children not attending preschool had the highest incidence of diarrhea (25.0%) and greatest prevalence of stunting (59.4%). Conclusion: This evaluation al-lowed an organization providing health screenings to rural an-ganwadi children to compare those they serve to children in nearby communities. Identification of key questions predicting maternal prac-tice guides future interventions with mothers."
