Assessment of nutritional status of children aged under five years in tribal population of Jawadhu hills in Tamil Nadu

Authors

  • Gopinath T. T. Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Thiruporur, Tamil Nadu, India
  • M. Logaraj Department of Community Medicine, SRM Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India
  • K. R. John Department of Community Medicine, SRM Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20180758

Keywords:

Malnutrition, Children, Tribal, Questionnaire

Abstract

Background: Malnutrition is more common in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa. One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India. Tribal population constitutes about 8% of the total population in India. They are particularly vulnerable to under nutrition, because of their geographical isolation, socio-economic disadvantage and inadequate health facilities. The objectives of this study were to assess the Nutritional status of children under five years in a Tribal area of Jawadhu hills under Puthurnadu PHC Sub-center and to find the associated risk factors accompanying the under five children.

Methods: A community based cross sectional study was conducted in a tribal area of Jawadhu hills Puthurnadu PHC sub-center. A total of 316 children participated in the study. A predesigned, pre tested questionnaire was used to collect data on socio demographic profile (age, sex, religion, education, income) from the Mother/Guardian and measured all possible anthropometric measurements.

Results: The overall prevalence of under nutrition was 26.9% in which Severely under nourished were 9.2%, the overall prevalence of stunting was 55.4% in which severely stunted were 23.4% and the overall prevalence of wasting was 10.4% in which severely wasted were 1.9% respectively. Male children were found to be more malnourished than Female children in our study. Children from joint family are more prone to get malnourished than Nuclear families.

Conclusions: The overall prevalence of stunting was higher (55.4%) which is greater than the cut-off point stated by the World Health Organization to indicate that the severity of malnutrition. Adequate measures to be made to overcome malnutrition.

Author Biographies

Gopinath T. T., Department of Community Medicine, Shri Sathya Sai Medical College and Research Institute, Thiruporur, Tamil Nadu, India

Assistant Professor,Department of Community Medicine

M. Logaraj, Department of Community Medicine, SRM Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India

Professor

K. R. John, Department of Community Medicine, SRM Medical College and Research Institute, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India

Professor

References

UNICEF India. The children – Nutrition Available from http://unicef.in/Story/1124/Nutrition. Accessed on 12 September, 2015.

Rao KM, Balakrishna N, Laxmaiah A, Venkaiah K, Brahmam GNV. Diet and Nutritional Status of Adolescent Tribal Population in Nine States of India. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2006;15(1):64-71.

Mishra VK, Lahiri S, Luther NY. Child Nutrition in India. National Family Health Survey (NFHS) Subject Reports. 1999;14:1026-4736.

Bloss E, Wainaina F, Bailey RC. Prevalence and Predictors of Underweight, Stunting and Wasting among Children Aged 5 and Under in Western Kenya. J Tropical Pediatr. 2004;50(5):260-70.

National family health survey India (NFHS-3). 2005–2006. Available at: http://rchiips.org/nfhs/ nfhs3.shtml. Accessed on 12 September, 2015.

WHO child growth standards: Training course on child growth assessment World Health Organisation.2008; Geneva, Switzerland. Available at: http://www.who.int/childgrowth/training/ module_h_directors_guide.pdf. Accessed on 12 September, 2015.

MODULE 6: Measuring malnutrition: Individual assessment. Available from http://www.unscn.org. Accessed on 12 September, 2015.

Meshram II, Arlappa N, Balakrishna N, Mallikharjuna Rao K, Laxmaiah A, Brahmam GNV. Trends in the prevalence of undernutrition, nutrient & food intake and predictors of undernutrition among under five year tribal children in India. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2012;21(4):568-76.

Bisai S, Bose K, Ghosh A. Nutritional Status of Lodha ChIldren in a Village of Paschim Medinipur District, West Bengal. Indian J Public Health 2008;52(4):203-6.

Mitra M, Kumar PV, Chakrabarty S, Bharati P. Nutritional status of Kamar tribal children in Chhattisgarh. Indian J Pediatr. 2007;74(4):381-4.

Seetharaman N, Chacko TV, Shankar SLR, Mathew AC. Measuring Malnutrition -The Role of Z Scores and the Composite Index of Anthropometric Failure (CIAF). Indian J Community Med. 2007;1(1):35-9.

Mathad V, Metgud C, Mallapur MD. Nutritional status of under-fives in rural area of South India. Indian J Med Sci. 2011;65:151-6.

Shubhada S, Vaishali D, Deepak B. Epidemiological Study of Malnutrition (Undernutrition) among under five children in a section of rural area. Pravara Med Rev. 2009;1(2):170-84.

Jerath SG, Singh A, Bhattacharya A, Ray S, Yunus S, Zodpey SP. Dimensions of Nutritional Vulnerability: Assessment of Women and Children in Sahariya Tribal Community of Madhya Pradesh in India. Indian J Public Health. 2013;57(4):260-7.

Rao KM, Kumar RH, Venkaiah K, Brahmam GNV. Nutritional Status of Saharia – A Primitive Tribe of Rajasthan. J Hum Ecol. 2006;19(2):117-23.

Das S, Bose K. Assessment of Nutritional Status by Anthropometric Indices in Santal Tribal Children. J Life Sci. 2011;3(2);81-5.

Manjunath R, Kumar KJ, Kulkarni P, Begum K, Gangadhar MR. Malnutrition Among Under-Five Children of Kadukuruba Tribe: Need to Reach the Unreached. J Clin Diagnos Res. 2014;8(7):1-4.

Rao KM, Balakrishna N, Laxmaiah A, Venkaiah K, Brahmam GNV. Diet and nutritional status of adolescent tribal opulation in nine States of India. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2006;15(1):64-71.

Mittal A, Singh J, Ahluwalia SK. Effect of maternal factors on nutritional status of 1-5 year old children in urban slum population. Indian J Commu Med. 2007;32:264-7.

Chakrabarty S, Ghosh R, Bharati P. Breastfeeding Practices and Nutritional Status of Preschool Children among the Shabar Tribal Community in Orissa, India. Available at: http://www.researchgate. net/publication/239929301.htm. Accessed on 12 September, 2015.

Vijayaraghavan K, Brahmam GNV, Laxmaiah A, Kumar RH, Rao KM. Diet and Nutritional Status Of Rural Population. NNMB Technical Report Series No. 21.

Reddy DC, Singh K, Tiwari IC. Epidemiology of Nutritional deficiency disorders among tribal preschool children around Manikpur, Banda district, Uttar Pradesh. Indian J Prev Soc Med. 1984;15:57- 62.

Biswas T, Mandal PK, Biswas S. Assessment of Health, Nutrition and Immunization status amongst under -5 children in migratory bricklin population of periurban Kolkata, India. Sudanese J Public Health. 2011;6(1):1-4.

Downloads

Published

2018-02-24

How to Cite

T. T., G., Logaraj, M., & John, K. R. (2018). Assessment of nutritional status of children aged under five years in tribal population of Jawadhu hills in Tamil Nadu. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 5(3), 1041–1046. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20180758

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles