Determinants of Child Healthcare Status in Udayarpalayam Taluk, Tamil Nadu, India

The first six years of early childhood represents the most critical stage in a child's life, when the basic foundations are laid for cognitive, social and emotional language, psychomotor development and cumulative lifelong learning.

1) to identify the present physiological status of the children and 2) to identify the determinants of child healthcare status.

Random sampling method used for the present study. There are 101 Panchayat villages, 20 children from each Panchayat village between aged 0 to 6 years, totally 2020 children were selected from Udayarpalayam Taluk and they are the respondents in the present study.

Collected data were analyzed with the help of SPSS software package Factor analysis was employed and BMI was calculated to identify the physiological status of children.

Seven most important dimensions are drawn to facilitate easy interpretation of variables; Physiological Status, Healthcare, Infant Food, Parent's Settings, Health Problems, Child Care, Child Immunization and Anganwadi's Food. These are the major determining factors of child healthcare status in Udayarpalayam Taluk of Ariyalur district, Tamil Nadu.