Practical Methods to Decrease Mental Retardation

400 Words2 Pages
Primary prevention refers to a set of approaches that reduce or eliminate the risk of mental retardation in the community. As mentioned earlier, these concern promoting the health status of the community as a whole and affording specific protection against certain conditions. Knowledge of the causes of mental retardation can help to reduce cases by at least 25% by practising primary prevention. There are many methods of primary prevention. Some of these are simple, whereas others are more complicated. Simple methods These apply to large segments of the population and basically mean implementation of certain practical and effective interventions at the community level. A large number of these practices concern maternal and child health care. Some of the important steps are: Improving the nutritional status of the community as a whole, especially the girl child in order to reduce the risk factors for mental retardation such as low birth weight, and prematurity in the offspring of these children in future; Universal iodization of salt to prevent iodine deficiency disorders which are endemic in some parts of SEAR Member Countries; Administration of folic acid tablets to reduce the occurrence of neural tube defects; Nutritional supplementation during pregnancy, focusing on intake of calories and iron; Universal immunization of children with BCG, polio, DPT, and MMR to prevent many disorders having the propensity to damage the brain and thereby causing mental retardation. Rubella immunization (part of MMR) can totally eradicate the occurrence of maternal rubella syndrome; Avoiding pregnancy before 21 years and after the age of 35 years as complications of pregnancy and labour are more common before 21 years. The risk of Downs syndrome and other chromosomal disorders increases as the maternal age at
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