© Kamla-Raj 2004                                                                         Anthropologist, 6(4): 247-252  (2004)

Dimensions and Causes of Child Malnutrition: A Study of

Preschool Children of Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India

Mitashree Mitra¹, Alka Tiwari¹, Rohini Ghosh² and Premananda Bharati²

1. School of Studies in Anthropology,  Pt. Ravishankar Shukla University, Raipur,

Chattisgarh, India

2. Anthropology and Human Genetics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203 B.T.Road, Kolkata  700 108, West Bengal, India

KEYWORDS Nutritional Status. Malnutrition. Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM).

Preschool. Teli. Rawat. Brahmin

Abstract The aim of the paper is to assess child malnutrition and delineate the factors contributing to the observed pattern of malnutrition among preschool children from three specific population namely-Saryupari Brahmin, Teli and Rawat of Raipur district of Chattisgarh, India through nutri-tional anthropometric survey. The nutritional anthropometric data collected on 121 Saryupari Brahmin (57 boys and 64 girls), 93 Rawat (49 boys and 46 girls) and 97 Teli (46 boys and 51 girls) children ranging in age from 2+ to 5+ years. The pattern of protein- energy malnutrition observed is primarily of mild to moderate intensity in Brahmin and moderate to severe intensity in Rawat and Teli children. The findings clearly indicate towards various socio economic and micro-environmental factors as probable contributors towards poor nutritional status. All these observation suggest that preschool children need better nutrition and health care combat the problem of PEM.

Home                                               Back