ESTABLISHMENT AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF NUTRITION COUNSELLING CENTER

Modernization and industrialization have created several health related problems. The prevention of any disorder is though intervention nowadays. Inclusion of health education and counselling regarding nutrition aspects act as most effective measure. A nutrition counselling center was established in the University of Agricultural sciences, Dharwad, Karnataka. Among visitors of the center majority were rural people (63.84%). It was found that, among the total visitors having nutritional problems, 81.13 per cent (n=129) of subjects were undernourished, 11.95 per cent (n=19) were obese and 4.40 per cent (n=7) were diabetic. Evaluation of performance of the nutrition counselling center at the end of study period (6 months) revealed that, both on campus and off campus counsellees appreciated the working hours, publicity given about the center and mode of counselling programme conducted. Counsellees also suggested to increase the working hours and off campus activities of the center for the benefit of the population