Growth parameters of Sri Lankan children during infancy: A comparison with world health organization multicentre growth reference study

Growth monitoring (GM) is an important intervention ensuring wellbeing of children. Medical, nutritional, social and emotional problems have a negative effect on physical growth of a child. Thus, GM is an effect on screening tool to pick up children with problems early. For meaningful GM not only accurate measurements are important, but having accurate reference standards to compare is important. Over the years different growth charts have being used for GM. The WHO Multi centre Growth Reference Study (MGRS) was undertaken between 1997 and 2003, to generate new growth curves for assessing the growth and development of infants and young children around the world1. The objective of the MGRS was to devise reference growth charts applicable to all communities. MGRS was based on the concept, growth of children from birth to five years depends mainly on nutrition, feeding practices, environment Abstract