The Epidemiology of under-nutrition in Irular tribal pre-school children in Chengam, Tamilnadu, India

Under - nutrition among the children under the age of five renders them vulnerable t o recurrent infections, growth retardation , low efficiency in future and even death. Under - nutrition as a global health problem is indeed of serious concern in tribal community which is a vulnerable sector. Various studies have highlighted the burden of under - nutritio n na tion - wide among different tribal groups in India . This study is aimed to explore the malnutrition among Irular tribal children in Tamilnadu , India.

A Community based cross - sectional survey was designed among the 450 tribal mothers and children in Chengam, Tamiln adu , India during January to December 2021. Mothers were interviewed with semi - structured Tamil questionnaire with socio - demogra phic details, nutrition, health - seeking behavior, Clinical and anthropometric exam ination of children . Under - nutrition was defined - weight for age ( Z - Score) < 2 S D. Median f or age and sex - WHO standards. Data was entered in SPSS. Chi Square and Logistic regres sion were used for analysis. A p<0.05 w as considered as statistically significant .

P revalenc e of Under - weight was 44%, stunting - 28.4%, wasting - 37.8% and Severe Acute Malnutrition - 8.7% . Majority were females. Overall, the nutritional status was poor . Advancing age, sex, maternal illiteracy, lack of aware ness on nutrition, food insecurity and under - utilization of health serv ices were the major underlying determinants .

The burden of u nder - nutrition is indeed a serious concern in the preschool children in Irular tribes in Tamilnadu , India wherein the socio - cultural, nutritional determinants and health seeking behavior have to addressed at the lev el of Primary Health care to combat malnutrition and prevent morbid ities as well as mortality.