IJFANS International Journal of Food and Nutritional Sciences

ISSN PRINT 2319 1775 Online 2320-7876

Causative Factors Of Child Malnutrition In Odisha: A Findings From National Family Health Survey, 2019-21

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Suvashri Suvadarsini and Ranjan Kumar Sahoo

Abstract

Children are widely recognized as a vulnerable group in health & mind point of view. Therefore, our present study dealt with precise delineation and clustering of districts of Odisha on the basis of nutritional value and to identify the health status and socioeconomic indicators that influence child malnutrition. Subject and methods The micro level data from National Family Health Survey (NFHS), 2019-21 was used for analysis. In this study, nutritional indicators are synthesized through cluster analysis to get better insight of nutritional status of different districts of Odisha. Cluster analysis classified all districts into four main clusters indicating different nutritional indicators. Correlation method is adopted to know the strength and direction of the association between child nutritional status with their respective influenced indicators. Results There was a significant reduction in stunted (4.11%), wasted (3.05%), under-weighted (6.32%) and severely wasted (0.07%) category of child is noticeable in recent survey as compared to past survey. The comparative analysis of Odisha all nutritional status was compared with aspirational districts identified by NITI Aayog. There was a reduction in the level of wasted, severely wasted, under weighted children category by 6.4%, 1.1% and 6.16% respectively, while it is limited by 0.95% for stunted child category. Correlation analysis revealed that clean cooking fuel & improved household sanitation, immunization & anaemic child play pivotal role in reducing malnutrition. Conclusion Child malnutrition is still a big deal all over Odisha but the situation is very critical in southern districts of the state where a large proportion of tribal population inhabits. Our finding suggests that the many flagship programs and POSHAN Abhiyan should adopt an equity approach for nutritional benefits of children in all districts of Odisha.

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