[Protein-energy malnutrition in children less than five years old in a rural zone in Senegal (Khombole)].

A survey on 400 children less than five years old living in three villages of the sanitary district of Khombole has been realized from 17th to 25th April 1997 in order to evaluate the existence of malnutrition and the hazard factor linked to it. All children have been weighed and measured. The paraclinic assessment made up by a rate of haemoglobin and a parasitical test of the, motions have been realized on 275 children. The emaciation concerns 8% of the children and the statural backwardness 34.7% of them. The malnutrition is variable from one village to another. The percentage of children suffering from a severe malnutrition according to the classification of Gomez concerns 4.5%. Geophagy, intestinal parasitosis, and anaemia are closely related to chronic malnutrition. The results show the existence of a precarious nutritional situation in rural area requiring new policies of struggle against malnutrition.