Nutritional assessment of under five children in a rural belt of southern Rajasthan,India

Abstract

Introduction: Despite the importance given by WHO and its member countries, malnutrition of children continued to be a serious problem world-wide, especially in developing countries like India. The uneven magnitude of this problem across Indian states reveals the need for ascertaining the magnitude of malnutrition. Aims & Objectives: The present study is aimed to ascertain the magnitude and the factors affecting the malnutrition across tribal and non-tribal communities in a rural belt of southern Rajasthan. Materials & Methods: The cross-sectional study carried out during March 2018 to February 2019 covering 200 households each from the two communities included 334 and 295 under five children respectively. These children were grouped as normal, moderate and severe classes with respect to underweight, stunting and Body Mass Index as per WHO standards. The proportion of children falling in these classes across two communities were tested using SND test. The factors affecting the problem were ascertined using Chi-square test. Results: The magnitude of moderately and severely underweight children was 32.63% and 7.49% in tribal and 24.41% and 4.41% in non-tribal communities. With respect to stunting and Body Mass Index, 64.37% and 63.47% in tribal and 73.22% and 73.90% in non-tribal were found normal. The factors like household income and mother’s literacy were found strongly associated with malnutrition. The magnitude of calorie intake differed significantly across communities with higher variability among tribal children. Conclusion: Nutrition, health education and good access, and utilization of healthcare with separate strategic intervention for tribal and non-tribal children can be very effective interventions to overcome the burden of malnutrition.