International Journal of Interdisciplinary and Multidisciplinary Studies (IJIMS), 2014, Vol 1, No.7, 105-112. 105 Available online at http://www.ijims.com ISSN: 2348 – 0343 A study regarding awareness among mothers of children from 12 months to 23 months about growth charting and its determinants in rural area of Amritsar district Deepak Upadhyay 1 *, Mithila Bisht 2 , Shyam Sunder Deepti 3 , Tejbir Singh 4 1. Dept. of Community Medicine, Rohilkhand Medical College & Hospital, Bareilly (UP) 1. Dept. of Pathology, Rohilkhand Medical College & Hospital, Bareilly (UP) 2. Dept. of Community Medicine, Government Medical College, Amritsar (Punjab) 3. Director of Research & Medical Education (Punjab) *Corresponding Author: Deepak Upadhyay Abstract Despite of various nutritional health programmes, malnutrition among children remains the big health problem in India. Even after the universalization of ICDS, India has biggest burden of malnourished children in the world. Suboptimal utilization of services by mothers is a big challenge before all programmes. Utilization of services also depends upon the awareness regarding the service and its perceived usefulness among beneficiaries. Therefore, the present study was conducted to know the awareness about the growth chart and its determinants among rural mothers. Study was conducted on 186 mothers selected from three villages. Chi square test and F test were applied wherever necessary. Results showed low level of awareness (38.17%) among the mothers regarding growth charting. Majority of mothers reported peripheral health functionaries i.e. ASHA (36.62%) & Anganwari worker (39.44%) as source of information. Distance from Health facility did not affect the knowledge of mothers. However, socio economic status and educational level of mothers were significantly associated with presence of awareness among mothers. Introduction: Health is a positive attribute of life. Maximally attainable and acceptable level of health for all people is our goal. The future of nation is the future of its children. If the limited resources in health sector are to be preferentially applied to any segment of population, it logically flows to children and mothers. 43% of Indian children under five years are underweight and 48% (i.e. 61 million children) are stunted due to chronic undernutrition. India accounts for more than 3 out of every 10 stunted children in the world. 1 The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) in India reported the prevalence of underweight among children younger than 3 years in 2005–2006 to be nearly 46%, a figure representing only a marginal decline from the rates recorded in 1992–1993 (51%) and 1998–1999 (47%). 2-5 Weight for age is the most widely used index for assessment of under nutrition in clinical practice and the only one used by the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme in India. Under ICDS programme a vast network of anganwadi centres and workers known as Anganwadi workers (AWW) has been established to monitor children’s growth by weighing at monthly intervals and plotting it on growth chart. 6