Published on November 2016 | Child Nutrition

Socioeconomic Factors, Living Conditions and Child Undernutrition among School going Children in Rural Areas of district Doda, Jammu & Kashmir, India: A Preliminary Study

Background: Malnutrition especially undernutrition is a major health problem affecting the development of the children in many developing countries of the world. It continues to be the principal cause of ill-health and pre-mature mortality and morbidity among children. Objectives: To assess the nutritional status of 6-14 year old school going children and the association among socioeconomic factors, living conditions and child undernutrition. Methods: The present study was conducted in village Ganota of Doda district, Jammu & Kashmir to assess the nutritional status of 100 school going children (5-14 years). Nutritional status of the children was assessed in terms of anthropometric measurement. Weight for age (WAZ), height for age (HAZ) and body mass for age (BMIZ) of the sample subjects were calculated and compared with WHO-2007 reference standard. Data were entered and analyzed using statistical software epi info 7 and Anthro Plus. Results: Results show that out of the total children screened (N=100), 36.00 percent were found stunted, 9.00 percent underweight and 2.00 percent were observed as wasted. It was further observed that female children were at higher risk of undernutrition in terms of stunting (42.86 percent of the female children), whereas underweight (11.39 percent and wasting (2.53 percent) were prevalent only in male children. Besides poverty, there are other socio-economic factors – (mother’s education, birth order in the family, joint family system, social and economic categories) and living conditions – (nature of sanitation, cooking area and fuel used) that directly or indirectly affect the nutritional status of the school-going children. Conclusion: There is a great need to focus the attention of the leaders and policy-makers for intervening in such areas, as nutritional status of children is a main indicator of development and a pre-condition for the society to progress.