10 Steps to successful growth assessment and counselling

Overview

Basic growth assessment involves measuring a child's weight and length or height and comparing these measurements to growth standards. The purpose is to determine whether a child is growing “normally” or has a growth problem or trend towards a growth problem that should be addressed. Health workers must be capacitated to measure children under the age of 5 years, evaluate their measurements and plot on their growth charts. The interaction with child's mother or caretaker is an important step toward improving child's growth. This document describes 10 steps to Successful growth assessment and counselling as a simple tool.