Suparna Som

Role of individual and household level factors on stunting: A comparative study in three Indian states

Background: Status of growth especially in early childhood is not only the most important determinant of health of a child but also a reflection of the well-being of the entire society. The extent of malnutrition in India is very high, but the exact magnitude varies considerably depending on which indicator is used. Child health in this paper is measured through chronic malnutrition (termed as stunting). Three states were selected, namely Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala. These three states represent the three stages of development. Bihar is one of the least and Kerala is one of the most developed states in India. Aim: The present paper aims to investigate the degree of chronic malnutrition in the context of socio-economic, demographic and other characteristics of the children and their households in the three selected states in India. Subjects and methods: The data for this study were taken from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, in 1998–1999. The NFHS-2 sample covers ever-married women in the age group 15–49 years from 26 states in India. Besides collecting information on health, the survey collects data on socio-economic and demographic characteristics at individual and household level. Results: The percentage of stunting of children in Bihar, West Bengal and Kerala was found to be 54, 39 and 23%, respectively. Regression analysis showed that the major factors that significantly influenced the status of health in the children in all three states were womens education and the household condition index. Months of breastfeeding and birth interval also had some association with health status. The effect of the above-mentioned variables was most prominent in Bihar and least in Kerala in terms of statistical significance. Conclusion: There is a close positive link between the nutritional status of pre-school children and the stages of development of the states. Mothers’ education and household condition are important influences on childrens health status irrespective of the stage of development.

Prevalence of Anemia and Its Determinants Among Nonpregnant and Pregnant Women in India

This study investigates the severity and distribution of anemia among nonpregnant and pregnant women aged 15 to 49 years in urban and rural sectors of 26 states in India and its association with certain economic and biosocial factors. A national survey was conducted to collect data on hemoglobin, height, weight, and certain economic and biosocial factors of 72 660 nonpregnant and 5619 pregnant women. Nonpregnant women aged less than 25 years are most affected by anemia. Womens education and standard of living in the households have a vital role in reducing anemia. Urban and well-nourished women also suffer less from anemia. The severity of anemia is higher among pregnant than nonpregnant women. Efforts must be made to educate women and enhance their level of economic status so that the prevalence of anemia can be reduced substantially.

SOCIOECONOMIC DIFFERENTIALS IN NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF CHILDREN IN THE STATES OF WEST BENGAL AND ASSAM, INDIA

Malnutrition among children is prevalent in almost all the states in India. This study assesses the extent and causes of malnutrition in two eastern Indian states with similar climates, namely West Bengal and Assam, using data from the National Family Health Survey 1998-99 (NFHS-2). The three indices of malnutrition taken for analysis are weight-for-height (WHZ), height-for-age (HAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ). These are assumed to depend on birth order, preceding birth interval, parents educational status, working status of the mother, mothers age at delivery of the children, source of drinking water, toilet facilities and standard of living of the household. Logistic regression was carried out separately for each of the three indices on the explanatory variables for both the states. It was found that not all variables are equally important in determining whether a baby is underweight, or suffering from acute or chronic malnutrition. Also, the importance of variables is not the same in the two states. It was observed that the coefficients associated with the variables in determining weight-for-height are not significant compared with those for weight-for-age and height-for-age.

Temporal trend of anemia among reproductive-aged women in India.

Background. Anemia is one of the major leading nutritional deficiencies in India, and the most vulnerable groups are preschool and adolescent children and pregnant and lactating women. Aim. The main objective of the study is to determine the temporal trend of anemia among reproductive-aged women of age 15-49 years. Methodology. The study uses data from second and third rounds of the National Family Health Surveys (NFHS-2, 1998-1999, and NFHS-3, 2005-2006), conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences. The dependent variable was the status of anemia of women. The determining variables were type of residence, age group, religion and castes, educational status, marital status, and household standard of living index. Results. Anemia was most prevalent in the east zone for both the periods. The changes at the all India level were not much, but the north-east zone improved very well, whereas the south zone deteriorated drastically. The occurrence of severely anemic women in India varied between 1% and 2%. The highest prevalence rates were observed among women who were 15 to 24 years of age, illiterate, from non-Christian scheduled tribes (STs), unmarried, and whose standard of living was low. Rates of anemia have increased over time except in the case of Buddhists, Parsees, Jains, and the STs. Conclusion. From the viewpoint of our study, illiteracy and low standard of living may be the main causes of anemia among women in India. It is also necessary to take appropriate steps to curb anemia in women in their early adulthood.

Variation in height and bmi of adult indians

It is well known that height and weight are interrelated, and that both are related to socioeconomic variables. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of socioeconomic variables on the heights and weights of different groups of people, formed according to different levels of heights and weights, and to see whether there are sex differences in the variations in heights and weights. Data for adults aged 15-49 years were taken from the India National Family Health Survey-3 and descriptive studies and multiple linear regression analyses carried out. A clear positive association was found for height and BMI with economic level (except for overweight females in the case of BMI). In the case of BMI, it is age that seems to be the most influential factor. Surprisingly, the observed changes in height and BMI are not as expected for short and tall or underweight and overweight people; these sometimes behave in the opposite directions to that of normal height and weight people. The basic assumption of multivariate normality is not valid due to changing relations at different height and BMI levels.

Do Socio-economic Development and Improvement of Health Go Together? A Comparison among Indian States

Socio-economic development in a country is very much linked with the improvement of overall status of health of the people in the country. The causality works both ways. However, the degree of relations between the two varies over region and time. This article is an attempt to show how health status is linked with the socio-economic status in different states of India. The health status is seen only for children and women and the data are taken from National Family Health Surveys (NFHS-2 and NFHS-3). For other development parameters National Sample Survey (NSS) data are used. The socio-economic variables taken for this purpose are head count ratio, real mean consumption, sex ratio, literacy level and infant mortality rate whereas the health variables are mainly the morbidity parameters like acute respiratory infection, diarrhoea, anaemia and low nutritional status. The results show that a decrease in the incidence of disease is directly associated with an increase in the socio-economic development, at least in the southern states. In addition to calculating the correlations between pairwise variables, we have found the rank correlation between the average of ranks of socio-economic variables and of health variables. We have also found the canonical correlations between the two sets of variables. The two correlations agreed very well. This was done separately for rural and urban sectors.