The Growth chart : a tool for use in infant and child health care

Abstract

Explains the features and uses of a simple visual chart for monitoring childhood growth and detecting changes in nutritional and health status. The first part of the book introduces the basic principles and procedures for measuring changes in growth and knowing when these changes signal a deterioration in health. Highly practical information on the design and use of growth charts is then presented on the basis of what has been learned from extensive field experience with a WHO prototype chart developed in the 1970s. Programme managers are alerted to specific problems of design, presentation, recording, or interpretation that should be considered when developing or adapting a chart for local use. The second part of the book provides guidelines for training health workers to use the chart effectively