On Assessment of Reliability and Validity of Child Anthropometric Measurements in India

RITANKAR CHAKRABORTY, NA
UDAYA S MISHRA, International Institute for Population Sciences

Introduction The flagship Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) programme was launched in India in 1975 to combat the problem of child malnutrition. Valid and reliable measurements of anthropometry are indispensable in the context of the ICDS programme, as they play a crucial role in ensuring the effectiveness, credibility, and ethical integrity of these essential services. Errors in these measurements therefore can have serious implications, and can question the overall impact of these services. This paper therefore attempts to assess the validity and reliability of Anganwadi measurements and tries to find the potential errors and strategies for improved estimation of anthropometric failures. Methods: We used Wilcoxon-matched pairs signed-rank test and Bland-Altman plots to check for validity and reliability of anthropometric measurements obtained from ICDS centers. Results: Tests results show that weight measurements obtained from ICDS programme lack validity. However, height measurements are valid. Reliability tests showed that both height and weight measurements are reliable. Discussion: The weight measurements of the children remain an area of concern, and this is mainly due to the faulty devices available to them. Policies and interventions are eventually formed from these erroneous and manipulated data which raises a serious concern on the effectiveness of these policies.

Keywords: Children, Adolescents, and Youth, Comparative methods , Health and Morbidity, Data and Methods

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