Nutritional and health status of jenukuruba tribal children in Mysore district

Abstract

Introduction: Nutritional status is a sensitive indicator of community health and nutrition. It has an important role in determining health status especially in tribal children. Objective: This study was done to assess nutritional and health status among Jenukuruba tribal children in Mysore district. Methods: Community based cross sectional study done over a period of 2 years. 4207 children between the age group of 0-15 years of Jenukuruba tribal community were included. All data were recorded in a predesigned proforma. Anthropometric measurements were recorded. Weight for age, Height for age and BMI were calculated. Clinical examination was done to look for anemia, vitamin A deficiency and other morbidities. 24 hours dietary recall method used to assess dietary intake of calories and proteins. Mean energy and protein intake measured and compared with RDA of Indian standards. Results: 1393 (33.1 %) were stunted with height less than 3 rd centile and 1588 (35.7 %) were underweight with weight below 3 rd centile using WHO growth charts. 1175(27.9 %) of children were having BMI < 5 th centile, 127( 3.3 %) children were overweight with BMI between 85 th and 95 th centile and 9(0.2%) children were obese with BMI>95 th centile. 53.4% were having varying degrees of protein energy malnutrition. 2083(49.5%) of study population had microcephaly. Mean RDA of energy is deficit in all age groups when compared to revised RDA recommended by ICMR in 2010 for Indians. Conclusion: Health and nutritional status of Jenukuruba tribal children is very poor. Immediate appropriate interventional programmes are needed for improving their health and nutritional status.

Health status of Koraga community: A pilot study among a particularly vulnerable tribal group of Udupi District, Karnataka, India

“…The commonly reported morbidities among children in our study were respiratory infections followed by skin infections and dental problems, which is in concordance with the findings from the study by Divakar et al 28 . In our study, only 5.3 per cent of the children had skin infections which are in contrast to that reported by Narayanappa et al 29 which reported skin infections in at least one-fifth of the children. It also reported a substantial proportion of children to be having dental problems (68.4%), while only 7.4 per cent had dental problems in the present study.…”

“…The findings of our study showed that almost 42.3 per cent of children aged ≤5 yr had a low weight for age, 30.8 per cent had a low height for age and 15.4 per cent had a low weight for height which is supported by the study findings of Divakar et al 28 (45.03% of under-five children being malnourished) and Narayanappa et al 29 (33.1% and 35.7% of Jenukuruba tribal children having low height for age and low weight for age respectively). Furthermore, the prevalence of undernutrition among 6-17 yr old children was found to be 57.3 per cent (<−2SD BMI for age and gender centile) in our study, which is much higher than that reported from a nationwide survey in which it ranged from 18-30 per cent among 5-19 yr old tribal children and adolescents 4 .…”

“…It also reported a substantial proportion of children to be having dental problems (68.4%), while only 7.4 per cent had dental problems in the present study. Similarly, only one child was found to have Bitot’s spots in our study in contrast to 16.4 per cent children in the above-mentioned study 29 .…”

“…Furthermore, the prevalence of undernutrition among 6-17 yr old children was found to be 57.3 per cent (<−2SD BMI for age and gender centile) in our study, which is much higher than that reported from a nationwide survey in which it ranged from 18-30 per cent among 5-19 yr old tribal children and adolescents 4 . Prevalence of anaemia in this age group was 21.2 per cent while a higher prevalence was reported from other studies conducted in Karnataka (≤15 yr - 82.7%) 29 and Madhya Pradesh (≤5 yr - 62.1%; 6-14 yr - 58.2%) 2 .…”