NUTRITIONAL INEQUITIES IN GUJARAT: A DISTRICT-LEVEL ANALYSIS OF DISPARITIES IN CHILD AND ADULT NUTRITION

Abstract

Malnutrition is a global public health issue that impacts millions of children worldwide. Poverty and childhood malnutrition are interlinked with each other by inadequate food, low educational attainment, poor living standards, and lack of access to health facilities. If we look at the nutritional status of Gujarat, it is seen that, except for overweight, the rate of all types of malnutrition in Gujarat is higher than the national average. In this research endeavour, an attempt has been made to create District Nutritional Index (DNI) for children under 5 years of age and adults ageing 15 to 49 years for all the districts of Gujarat using NFHS- 4 (2015-16) and NFHS-5 (2019-21) data. Result shows that the prevalence of malnourished children under 5 years of age, including stunted, wasted, severely wasted, and underweight have been found higher in South and Central Gujarat, specifically in the Dang, Dahod, and Panchmahal districts, while the prevalence of overweight children has been found higher in Saurashtra, specifically in Rajkot district. Moreover, the results related to adults, show that the prevalence rate of Lower Body Mass Index (LBMI) among men and women are found to be lower for Saurashtra region of Gujarat, while the worst situation of LBMI is found for South Gujarat region. In contracts, higher percentage of overweight adults have been found for the Saurashtra region, while a lower percentage of overweight adults have been found in South Gujarat, especially in the Dang district. Overweight population is more in Saurashtra (Rajkot) because of increased urbanization, and growth related to life style related living standards. While for the Dang, Dahod and Panchmahal districts, as they are tribal districts of Gujarat and are comparatively less developed than other districts of Gujarat. Their poor economic status contributes to chronic and acute malnutrition.