INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR INNOVATIVE RESEARCH IN MULTIDISCIPLINARY FIELD ISSN – 2455-0620 Volume - 3, Issue - 5, May - 2017 Available online on – WWW.IJIRMF.COM Page 119 KNOWLEDGE REGARDING PREVENTION OF PROTEIN ENERGY MALNUTRITION AMONG UNDER FIVE MOTHERS IN SELECTED HOSPITAL IN MEERUT WITH A VIEW TO DEVELOP HEALTH EDUCATION MODULE Mrs.Thongam Kapeelta Devi (Guide) 1 , Ms. Monika Chaudhary 2 , Shifa Koshy and Harish Chopra 3 1, 2, 3 Subharti Nursing College, Swami Vivekananda Subharti University, Subhartipuram, Meerut. Email - kapeel.thongam@gmail.com 1. INTRODUCTION: Children are the integral part in the world. Everywhere the development and well-being of children captures public attention. The interest of scientist and concerns of public policy makers are to develop children are active participants and strong pillars of society. 1 Healthy children are a matter of pride for the family, the community and the country. They evolve to become healthy adults and effectively participate in national and developmental programmes. 2 Overall global progress in reducing Protein Energy Malnutrition among infants and young children is exceedingly slow and completely inadequate for even approaching the year 2000 goal of a 50 % reduction in 1990 prevalence levels, currently an estimated 167.90 million children under 5 years of age i.e., 27.41 of the world children in this group are still malnourished. 3 For centuries, India has been a country which faced a number of natural calamities and epidemics that manifested into a series of health problems for the country. India’s children still languish in malnutrition in spite of lot of progress in terms of food production procurement and food security .4 Food should be provided in quantities that balance energy and nutrients with the children's small appetites. Children typically grow taller by 2 or 3 inches and heavier by 5 lb or so each year from age 1 year to adolescence. Total energy needs increase slightly with age, although energy needs per kilogram of body weight actually it declines gradually during childhood. Energy requirements are also influenced by activity level. Growth and activity patterns vary widely among children. The complexity of these factors makes it especially challenging to plan their diets so as to accommodate children's small appetites, avoid excess fat and sugar, and still supply adequate amounts of energy and nutrients to keep children free from hunger and promote their proper growth and health. Food guidance systems that recommend minimum amount and age-appropriate portion sizes are available to help caregivers plan menus to balance energy and nutrients with children's growth and activity patterns. By ensuring that children are provided with adequate amount and combinations of food during their day in care, child-care programs can make substantial contributions to prevent hunger and increase nutrition security for the nation's young children. The rapid growth of population leads to gap between food production and food consumption which causes malnutrition. General ignorance about the importance of balanced diet and poverty are the chief causes of malnutrition in the developing world. 5 Mother’s education can generate different types of intra household effects and thereby reducing the risk of nutritional deficiency like Protein Energy Malnutrition. The effects which bring through mothers education were: Abstract: Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) is widely prevalent form of malnutrition among under five children and is still the major problem in our country especially in urban slums. Objectives: A study was conducted to assess the knowledge among mothers of under five children regarding prevention of protein energy malnutrition view to develop health education module. Method: Descriptive survey approach was adopted to collect data. A structured interview schedule was prepared and administered to 50 mothers of under five children based on purposive sampling technique at the CSSH hospitals of Meerut (UP). Result: Majority of the subjects were in the age group of 27- 38 years and most of them were Hindus. Most of the subjects were housewives and had no formal studies with them. Highest percentage of subjects had a family income of less than Rs.3000 per month. From samples 78% were having only moderate knowledge about prevention of protein energy malnutrition and the rest had inadequate and adequate knowledge score. The source of information had influenced on knowledge score of mother. About 46% subject were illiterate with no formal education, Conclusion: It concluded that there was moderate knowledge among the mothers of under five children regarding prevention of PEM. In the upcoming research the researchers can also include the post test in the further studies which has not been included in this research. Key Words: Protein energy malnutrition; Under five Mothers; health education module (SIM), CSSH (Chatrapati Shivaji Subharti Hospital).