Undernutrition among girl child in India: Understanding different dimensions of social deprivation
Gopal BISWAS, INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES KOLKATA (IDSK), India
Undernutrition is a serious public health problem among children in developing countries, even in India. India has made remarkable improvements in the health sector. Despite of that, India has a disproportionate burden of under-five child mortality. Girl children often face discrimination from the moment she is born. In India, girls have a higher probability of dying before attaining the age of five years than boys. Gender and caste inequalities also have been deeply rooted in the Indian culture. Regarding nutritional status, ST girl Child from the rural area is two times more prone to be undernourished than a child from the general community. This paper's main objective is to discuss factors that affect the nutritional health of female children and the pattern of distribution across districts in India. The study is secondary quantitative data analysis, the prevalence of stunting, wasting and underweight, and other confounding variables are estimated at the district level. The data for the study is drawn from the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4) of 2015-16. The results suggest that economic status impacts more on the prevalence of undernutrition among girls than the caste identity in northern India. While in southern India, caste identity dominates on nutritional status than economic status. Despite the government's interventions, undernutrition among under-five girls is at an alarming stage, and more intervention is needed at the district level for Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.
Mots clés : Girl Child|Caste|Social Deprivation|Undernutrition|India
A105358GB