Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Jun 29;10(6):e0130567.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130567. eCollection 2015.

What Explains Child Malnutrition of Indigenous People of Northeast India?

Konsam Dinachandra Singh  1 , Manoj Alagarajan  1 , Laishram Ladusingh  2
Affiliations

What Explains Child Malnutrition of Indigenous People of Northeast India?

Konsam Dinachandra Singh et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Household risk factors affecting child health, particularly malnutrition, are mainly basic amenities like drinking water, toilet facility, housing and fuel used for cooking. This paper considered the collective impact of basic amenities measured by an index specially constructed as the contextual factor of child malnutrition. The contextual factor operates at both the macro and micro levels namely the state level and the household level. The importance of local contextual factors is especially important when studying the nutritional status of children of indigenous people living in remote and inaccessible regions. This study has shown the contextual factors as potential factors of malnutrition among children in northeast India, which is home to the largest number of tribes in the country. In terms of macro level contextual factor it has been found that 8.9 per cent, 3.7 per cent and 3.6 per cent of children in high, medium and low risk households respectively, are severely wasted. Lower micro level household health risks, literate household heads, and scheduled tribe households have a negating effect on child malnutrition. Children who received colostrum feeding at the time of birth and those who were vaccinated against measles are also less subject to wasting compared to other children, and these differences are statistically significant.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Children in 0–59 months by level of Macro Amenities Index (MAI) in Northeast India.
Source: Based on authors computation from Census 2001–2011 and NFHS-3 (2005–06)
Fig 2
Fig 2. Prevalence of severe wasting of children 0–59 months by Macro Amenities Index (MAI) in Northeast India.
Source: Based on authors computation from Census 2001–2011 and NFHS-3 (2005–06)
Fig 3
Fig 3. Box plot of z-score of weight-for-height of children in 0–59 months by level of Household Environment Health Risk Index in Northeast India.
Source: Based on authors computation from National Family Health Survey 3 (NFHS-3), 2005–06
Fig 4
Fig 4. Histogram and normal density plot of z-score of weight-for-height of children in 0–59 months in Northeast India.
Source: Based on authors computation from National Family Health Survey 3 (NFHS-3), 2005–06
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. United Nations Children’s Fund, World Health Organization, The World Bank. UNICEF-WHO-World Bank Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates. 2012 (UNICEF, New York; WHO, Geneva; The World Bank, Washington, DC).
    1. Gross R, Webb P. Wasting time for wasted children: severe child undernutrition must be resolved in non-emergency settings. The Lancet. 2006;367:1209–11. - PubMed
    1. Bhutia ZA, Ahmed T, Black RE, Cousens S, Dewey K, Giugliani E, et al. What works? Intervention for maternal and child undernutrition. The Lancet. 2008;371(9610):417–40. - PubMed
    1. Esrey SA. Water, waste and well-being: A multicountry study. American Journal of Epidemiology. 1996;143(6):608–23. - PubMed
    1. Monteiro CA, Benicio MH, Conde WI, Konno S, Lovadino AI. Narrowing socioeconomic inequality in child stunting: the Brazilian experience, 1974–2007. Bulletin of World Health Organization. 2010;88(4):305–11. - PMC - PubMed