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The NGDS Pilot Project University of Karachi |
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˝ About the NGDS
Pilot Project ˝ The NGDS Team
˝ Subprojects
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Director ˝ |
The NGDS Pilot Project URL: http://ngds-ku.org OR http://www.uok.edu.pk/projects/ngds
The NGDS Pilot Project e-mail: info(at the rate of)ngds-ku.org
Data collected on over 2500 children since
1998.
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Contact |
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DEAR PARENTS! Do you know that: |
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any pain and is often |
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Project Director, the NGDS Pilot
Project e-mail OR Call: 9926 1300-6 ext. 2380 During the first 10 years, whatever one teaches a child
is going to make a lasting impression. This site is dedicated to children of
the third millennium, in order to establish communication with the parents,
the teachers and the school-health professionals, so that the next generation
grows up with a sound mind in a sound body, capable of making independent
decisions based on creative thinking and critical analysis of all the factors
involved. |
surgery involving delicate nerves |
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Mission Statement
The NGDS Pilot Project is a goodwill, public service endeavor
conducted “Free of Charge” for the care and the development of young persons to
prepare them mentally, physically, emotionally and morally for rewarding
careers in the civil and the military services.
Background
A team of University of Karachi headed by Professor Dr. Syed Arif Kamal has undertaken a pilot project to establish "National Growth and Developmental Standards (NGDS)" for the Pakistani children under the directives of Governor Sindh/Chancellor, University of Karachi. Design of this project is undertaken after extensive contacts with local and international experts.
Healthy 4-11 years old children, studying in schools run by the
Armed Forces, are measured (standing and sitting heights, weight, mid-upper-arm
circumference) and screened for anemia, cardiac problems and scoliosis major
causes for growth retardation). The NGDS Team has detected stunting (short
height for age) as well as a number of cases involving scoliosis. Stunting, if
detected in preteen years, could be treated by a combination of sleep habits,
diet, exercise and, in extreme cases, by hormone therapy. Scoliosis, if left
untreated, produces cosmetic deformities and effects vital organs (e. g.,
heart, lungs) during adolescence. If detected early, it could be arrested with
a combination of braces and exercises. Most important of all, delicate surgery
involving spinal nerves may be avoided in most cases.
Chronological Developments
Since 1998, the NGDS Pilot Project is being successfully implemented at Army Public School, 'O' Levels, Karachi, Bahria College, MT Khan Road, Karachi and Fazaia (PAF) Degree College, Base 'Faisal', Karachi, representative institutions of each wing of the Armed Forces of Pakistan. The anthropometric measurements taken are sitting height, standing height, mid-upper-arm circumference (MUAC), shoulder width and weight. Data have been collected on over 2500 children since the inception of this project. The children in these institutions are in a better-than-average health and represent a national sample.
Research carried out
by the NGDS Team has been reported in international journal as well as various
conferences, focusing IT, telemedicine, health-information technology,
complexity science, early childhood care and development. Papers were presented
in the Sixteenth International Biennial Conference of Pakistan Pediatric
Association, Karachi, February 14-17, 2002, National Telemedicine Conference,
organized by Technology Resource Mobilization Unit (TReMU), Ministry of Science
and Technology, Islamabad, June 22, 2002 and the Aga Khan University National
Research Symposium: Early Childhood Care and Development, Karachi, September
23-24, 2002. A seminar entitled "The NGDS Pilot Project: Documenting and
Modeling Growth of the Pakistani Children" was conducted for Postgraduate
Training Program, Department of Pediatrics, the Aga Khan University Medical
College, Karachi, on April 24, 2002. Seminars were, also, given for
Departments of Pediatrics of the Nishtar Medical College, Multan (Punjab), on
March 22, 2004, Frontier Medical College, Abottabad (NWFP) on August 27, 2005,
Dow University of Heath Sciences, Karachi on October 26, 2005, repectively. On
November 10, 11 and 13, 2006, faculty and students of Department of Special
Education, University of Karachi visited Growth Laboratory (now renamed as
"The Syed Firdous Growth and Imaging Laboaratory") located in
Department of Mathematics. Training was given to obtain anthropometric
measurements of special children. On October 28, 2008 a team from French Embassy in Islamabad came to see the Syed Firdous laboratory and discussed possible projects for collaboration.
On March 23, 2002,
the then President of Pakistan announced the launch of TAWANA PAKISTAN (Urdu version of
"Strong Pakistan"), a similar project for growth monitoring of rural
girl child of Pakistan. The methods, the techniques, the instruments and the softwares
developed by the NGDS Team have been demonstrated to the key officials of this
project. The NGDS height-measurement system was adopted for Tawana Pakistan
anthropometry studies. The NGDS Team, also, trained master anthropometrists of
Tawana Pakistan.
Resources
Article for Parents: How to Guard
Against Curvatures of the Spinal Column in Children
? Printable
Version PDF
Article for Parents: Moiré Fringe
Topography for the Detection of Scoliosis in Children Printable
Version PDF
Article for Parents: What Can You
Learn from the Way Your Child Walks? Printable
Version PDF
Original Paper: An Investigation
of Growth Profiles of the Pakistani Children PDF
Training Manual for Obtaining
Anthropometric Measurements PDF
Handout for Teachers PDF
Photo Gallery
Please visit the NGDS Photo Gallery.
Accomplishments
During the course of this project the NGDS Team has
developed:
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Human-rights
and ethical standards for conducting a research project involving minor
subjects and parents with little or no education |
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Inexpensive,
indigenously-built anthropometric instruments |
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Standardized-anthropometric
techniques for obtaining reliable and reproducible measurements (manual prepared, containing
step-by-step procedures as well as sources of error and hazard/injury) |
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A
method to generate a detailed growth profile of child based on heights of
biological father and biological mother, without using X rays |
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e) |
Moiré fringe topography apparatus (a
stereophotogrammetric technique) for somatotyping and screening of trunk deformities |
Softwares are being developed to predict adult height, adult weight, stunting
(short height for age), wasting (short height for weight) and obesity based on
the standards released by CDC (Center for Disease Control, Atlanta, USA) in May
2000.
Cutoff height for
induction into the Armed Forces of Pakistan:
Boys: 5 feet 4 inches (162.56 centimeter)
Girls: 4 feet 10 inches (147.32 centimeter)
Through the power of mathematics, the NGDS team may give an
estimate of adult height and adult weight for a child, who is, just, 3- or
4-year old.
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Updated:
October 1, 2009 (0000h GMT)
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˝ About the NGDS Pilot Project ˝ The NGDS Team ˝ Subprojects ˝ Results ˝ Publications ˝ Links ˝ Homepage
of Project Director ˝ |
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