A Profile of Acute Respiratory Infection Prevalence in Children Aged 0–5 Years in Rural Health Training Centre Kanpur

Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are a major cause of disease and death in developing countries. More than a million people die from acute respiratory infections in India every year. They are responsible for a heavy burden of death, illness and high economic costs all over the world. These infections become life threatening especially in situations prevailing in developing countries. The death toll from ARI among Indians is higher than all the number of deaths combined from HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis. In spite of this, ARI remains a relatively ignored problem. A community based longitudinal study was done involving 3135 children of 0–5 years of age group in the rural health practice area of Rama Medical College Kanpur. They constituted 14.94% of the total population. Percentage wise distribution according to age was 0-1yrs (24.30%), 1-2yrs (22.99%), 2-3yrs (19.20%), 3–4 yrs (16.82%) and 4–5 yrs (16.69%). Children without ARI were 658 (20.98%). Children with ARI were 2477 (79.02%). Total episodes of ARI were 10122. Thus, for every 5 children, 4 suffered from ARI. Risk factors like type of family, low birth weight, were found to be significantly associated with acute respiratory infection.