Perfil nutricional de crianças menores de sete anos assistidas na atenção básica, antes e durante a pandemia da Covid-19, de um município do interior do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The health condition of a child is influenced by nutritional status, physical-motor development and determinants that compromise the health-disease process. The diagnosis of the child’s nutritional status in early childhood is a global health indicator, which enables monitoring of growth, health and nutritional risks as well as the formulation of new and/ or reorganization of existing public policies for coping, prevention and recovery of health problems and food and nutritional security. The study aimed to analyze the nutritional status of children under seven years of age assisted in primary care, before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, in a municipality in the interior of Rio Grande do Sul. This is a study of ecological observational design. The data related to the nutritional profile of the children were verified in secondary databases of the Department of Informatics of the Unified Health System, Management Module of the Food and Nutritional Surveillance System - Annual consolidated reports of the nutritional status of children under seven years of age assisted in primary care in Tupanciretã, from 2018 to 2021. For analysis and diagnosis of nutritional status, the parameter Body Mass Index was used, recommended by the Ministry of Health. It was observed that even in a scenario of COVID-19 pandemic, children in the age group from zero to under seven years of age followed in primary care in the municipality of Tupanciretã had a higher percentage of eutrophic nutritional classification, but there were also indices of nutritional disorders, which is an alert and challenge to be faced by health managers in the perspective of promoting food and nutritional security. It is noteworthy that the proposed implementation of local strategies, based on the PNAN, aims to enable organization and continuous promotion of nutritional care in the primary care network of the municipality in order to maintain and enhance the identification of determinants, health conditions and priorities for children in early childhood.