An investigation of the health and nutritional status of the population in the Nam Pong Water Resource Development Project, northeast Thailand

Abstract

The prevalence of gastro-intestinal parasites, the haemoglobin level, nutritional status (from anthropometric measurements), urinary urea-N creatinine (U-C) ratio and levels of vitamin B₁, and B₂, were studied in populations living around a man-made lake, in a resettlement area and nearby irrigation area and in traditional villages in northeast Thailand. The hydroxyproline (HOP) index was also determined.

The intensity of parasitic infection was generally low, but Opisthorchis viverrini had the highest prevalence rate in the irrigation area and hookworm, Necator americanus, in the resettlement area. Despite a high average annual income per household in the irrigation area, no significant difference in the nutritional status was found, as judged by anthropometric measurements. The U-C ratio was highest in children around the lake. Anaemia was common in about 30% of the total population in the areas surveyed. The HOP index was similar in all areas. For vitamin B₁, and vitamin B₂ 1·7–10·9% and 1·9–10·0% of the child population respectively were deficient as assessed biochemically, although overt clinical vitamin deficiency was not seen.