Socio–economic determinants of underweight children in West Bengal, India

Abstract

Objective To study the extent of undernutrition at district level and the socio-economic determinants of underweight children aged 0-71 months in West Bengal. Methods The data were accessed from the Reproductive and Child Health Survey (RCHS-II), which contained information of 7 550 children and their parents. Information of socio-economic variables about the associated families of these children had also been taken for our study. This study computed weight-for-age z-scores to assess the nutritional status of the children using WHO (2006) reference. Results The prevalence of underweight varied over the districts. Districts with very high prevalence of underweight children were Murshidabad, Burdwan, Purulia, Medinipur, Howrah and South 24 Parganas. High prevalent districts for both boys and girls were Jalpaiguri and Coochbihar. Low prevalent districts for both boys and girls were South Dinajpur, Nadia and Kolkata. The percentage of underweight children were more in rural areas among Muslim families with illiterate parents and low standard of living. In Murshidabad, Bankura, Nadia, Medinipur and South 24 Parganas districts, i.e., where prevalence of underweight children were higher, the rural and urban differences were less. The characteristics like religion, parents' educational status and standard of living index showed significant effect on the children's weights. Conclusions Public intervention programs on the parent's education and the standard of living of the households at district level should be given high priority to combat the children's undernutrition problems so far as weight for age is concerned.