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Indirect methods: vital statistics, ecological factors and food balance sheets sheet
10-mark answer frame

Discuss the indirect methods of assessing the nutritional status of a community.

How to lay out the answer. Follow the frame, then write it in your own words.

  1. 1 · Open in two lines. Indirect methods judge a community's nutrition from existing records and conditions rather than by examining people. They are vital statistics, ecological factors and food balance sheets.
  2. 2 · Vital statistics.
    • IMR and under-five mortality.
    • 1-4 year mortality: the most sensitive.
    • LBW rate, MMR, morbidity records.
  3. 3 · Ecological factors. Jelliffe's six groups with one Indian example each.
  4. 4 · Draw the food balance sheet chain. [Flow: production + imports ± stocks → minus exports, seed, feed, waste → net supply → ÷ population ÷ 365 → grams per head per day]
  5. 5 · Worked example. 25 million tonnes for 1400 million people gives about 49 g per person per day.
  6. 6 · Merits and limitations.
    • Cheap and quick; show trends and causes.
    • Cannot identify individuals; averages hide unequal sharing; records incomplete.
  7. 7 · In the community. District officers use 1-4 year deaths and LBW rates to choose blocks for extra anganwadis and NRCs.
  8. 8 · Close in one line. Indirect methods tell us where to look; direct methods then tell us who needs help.

Scoring tip: The food balance sheet flow is quick to draw; a one-line sum below it shows you understand per capita availability.