Prevalence and Covariates of Severe Under Nutrition among Tribal and Non-Tribal Preschoolers from Ahmednagar District, Maharashtra, India

The study aimed to assess the level of under nutrition among children of 0-6 year age as influenced by their communities, gender, age group, caste and socio economic status of parents. All 14 Tahasils of Ahmednagar District of Maharashtra State, India were considered for the study. Preschoolers of 0-6 year age with<Median-3SD weight for age by WHO standards and were in grade III and IV level of under nutrition by IAP classifications were the participants. The higher proportion of girls and particularly children from tribal and socially deprived castes viz. Scheduled Tribes (ST), Scheduled Caste (SC) and Nomadic Tribes (NT) were found severely under nourished. More children of age group 12-35 months were found to be severely under nourished. The lower and middle socio economic status and severe under nutrition exhibited strong association.