Nutritional status of mother and children in India

In India all three indicators of child malnutrition have lower prevalence in urban areas in comparison to rural areas. In fact children from backward socio-economic strata are high in proportion to be malnourished than their counterparts in all the three dimensions of measurements. These discrepancies in poor socio-economic conditions may also be due to lack of knowledge about child care, poor condition of water and sanitation, lack of access of health care services in rural areas. There is not much difference in prevalence of malnutrition in male and female. In all the major states prevalence of stunting and underweight is higher among poor in comparison to non-poor. At the national level there is significance difference among poor and non-poor in terms of prevalence of all three indicators of child malnutrition. Poor children are more undernourished, it may be due to the lower purchasing power of nutritious food among poor families. Since they are poor, their hygienic condition may also be poor which causes infection and disease like diarrhea which results in poor nutritional status among poor children.