A survey in 1997 in Chakaria sub-district near Cox’s Bazar in south-east Bangladesh found that 4% of children aged 1 to 15 years had lower limb deformities due to rickets. The social, health and economic implications of this high rate of physical deformity triggered concerns about whether rickets occurs elsewhere in Bangladesh. Taking advantage of the nationwide survey sites of the Nutritional Surveillance Project (NSP), a special module was added to the NSP in October 2000 to rapidly estimate the prevalence of lower limb deformities. This bulletin describes how the survey was done and what was found. [ Bulletin as PDF ]
