Analysis of Nutritional Status Among Scheduled Tribe Women in India

Authors: Shalmoli Dutta, Aritra Sen

DOI: https://doi.org/10.37082/IJIRMPS.2020.v08i05.001

Short DOI: https://doi.org/ghqnz2

Country: India

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Abstract: The nutritional status of a population has well-established, profound health effects across the lifecycle and is closely connected with cognitive and social development. Tackling malnutrition is a global concern as it is the single largest risk factor affecting the burden of disease estimates worldwide. The tribal population in India is more vulnerable to malnutrition and related health problems under severe socio-economic stress. This study determines the prevalence of nutritional status among Schedule Tribe Indian women by states and several background characteristics. It also tries to examine the socio-economic differentials in nutritional status among those women.
The data is taken from the 4th round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS 4) conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai (2015-2016). Body Mass Index (BMI) was computed and recoded according to the specification of the World Health Organization (WHO). Bivariate analysis and multinomial logistic regression were used to assess the effects of socio-economic characteristics. The overall prevalence of underweight among schedule tribe females is 31.7% and the prevalence of overweight/obese is 10.1%. From the west region, most of the tribal women are found to be underweight. Scheduled Tribe women belonging to the urban area are found more prone to be overweight. The factors that are protective against being underweight are them being in older ages, having higher years of education, being married and being from households of higher wealth index. Although the prevalence of underweight is higher among tribal women than the women from the general population, the majority of the study population are found to be of normal BMI. In some of the states like Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur, the prevalence of overweight tribal women exceeds the number of underweight which slightly indicates towards the dual burden of malnutrition.

Keywords: Body mass index, Multinomial logistic regression, Underweight, Overweight, Socio-economic factors, India

Paper Id: 702

Published On: 2020-09-02

Published In: Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2020

Cite This: Analysis of Nutritional Status Among Scheduled Tribe Women in India - Shalmoli Dutta, Aritra Sen - IJIRMPS Volume 8, Issue 5, September-October 2020. DOI 10.37082/IJIRMPS.2020.v08i05.001

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