Knowledge Level of the Anganwadi Workers on Integrated Child Development Service: A Study in Manipur, India

Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) is a Government program in India that mainly focuses on child and maternal health to address the health, nutrition, and development needs of children, pregnant women, nursing mothers, and adolescent girls. The Anganwadi workers are the front-line workers who are responsible for transferring the services of ICDS to children and mothers. As the ICDS program is designed for vulnerable section of the society like women and children it is important not only from health point of view but also from the point of socio economic as well as for a better future generation. Success of any program depends on the knowledge of stakeholders about the concept, objective, functions of the program. Anganwadi workers are grass-root level functionaries who are implementing the program at ground level. Their knowledge level has impact on implementation and output of the programme. This paper attempts to explore the knowledge level of AWWs regarding not only the activities of ICDS but also their knowledge on different nutrients its source and importance which will act as a guide to policy makers, planners, extension functionaries, scientist, researchers, students and health personnel. For this purpose 150 respondents from Imphal East, Manipur were selected randomly and interviewed with a structured schedule. The data were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods. The finding of the study revealed that majority of the AWWs had medium level of knowledge regarding the objectives and functions of ICDS. Further it was found that only 16 per cent of the respondents had high knowledge level regarding Vitamin A, 4.67 per cent regarding Iron, 0 per cent for Calcium and 15.33 per cent for Vitamin C respectively. Moreover, it was found that age and experience of the respondents had a negatively significant relationship with their knowledge while their educational qualification was correlated positively. Thus, the present study strongly felt the need of improving the quality of knowledge and awareness among Anganwadi workers about the various activities of ICDS and the nutritional requirements of mother and children which needs regular training, awareness and orientation programs along with group discussion and observations.