Volume : VIII, Issue : VII, July - 2019

Undernutrition in Children Under Five Year in Northeastern States, India: A District Level Geospatial Analysis

Kh. Jitenkumar Singh, Vekutulu Chiero

Abstract :

Introduction: Malnutrition is responsible for ill health; good health is not possible without good nutrition. The term malnutrition covers two conditions, one is ‘undernutrition’—which includes stunting (low height for age), wasting (low weight for height), underweight (low weight for age). Undernutrition explains around 45% of deaths among children under five, mainly in low and middle–income countries. Five million children die every year due to malnutrition, of which two million are from India. The aim of this study is to identify the hotspot and cold spot clusters/areas of undernutrition i.e. stunting, wasting, and underweight in children in northeastern states. Methods: This study used data collected in the fourth round of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS–4), 2015–2016. A total of 32,005 children under five years were included in the analysis. The Getis–Ord spatial statistical tool was used to identify high and low hotspots areas of undernutrition. The resultant Z score tells where features with either high or low values cluster spatially. Results: The highest prevalence of stunting was observed in Ribhoi, Jaintia Hills, West Khasi Hills, East Khasi Hills in the district of Meghalaya, and Dhui districts of Assam, and the highest prevalence of wasting was observed in South Garo Hills district of Meghalaya, Cachar district of Assam, and Upper Siang in Arunachal Pradesh, whereas the highest prevalence of underweight was observed in Dhui, Goalpara and Darang district of Assam. Statistically significant hotspots of stunting were found mostly in the district of Assam and Meghalaya, for wasting, significant hotspots were mostly found in the district of Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, whereas in underweight most of the hotspot were found in the district of Assam and Meghalaya. Conclusions: This study demonstrates the geographical variation of undernutrition in children under five years in northeastern states of India. The study illustrates a technique using geospatial data to understand how a nutrition situation in children varies across a district. Spatial distribution of health inequality is observed within the district. The districts with high hotspots of child undernutrition should be targeted with additional resources. Besides, further careful investigation of childcare practices is essential for assessing and measuring child health.

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Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijsr  

Cite This Article:

UNDERNUTRITION IN CHILDREN UNDER FIVE YEAR IN NORTHEASTERN STATES, INDIA: A DISTRICT LEVEL GEOSPATIAL ANALYSIS, Kh. Jitenkumar Singh, Vekutulu Chiero INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH : Volume-8 | Issue-7 | July-2019

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