Nutritional Status of Kodaku Pre-School Children in Central India

Abstract

A community based cross-sectional study was conducted to determine the current nutritional status of pre-school children of Kodaku tribe. A total twenty-five villages were selected by Stratified proportional sampling method. Four hundred eighty-five households and one hundred and eight two pre-school children covered in this study. The Kodaku boys and girls were shorter and lighter than NCHS standard. According to weight for age 59.8% of the children were under-weight (<median –2SD) and about 26.2% children had very low body weight which were <- 3 SD of the standard. Height for age and weight for height data revealed that 43% children suffered from stunting and 35% recorded wasting. However higher prevalence of Vitamin A deficiency 2.6% was observed. Clinically PEM was not seen. This study shows that Kodaku Pre-school children were nutritionally poorer as compared to other tribal and general rural population of Madhya Pradesh.