Prevalence of Malnutrition in Adolescent Girls: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Tribal Regions of Telangana

Abstract

Malnutrition continues to be one of India's major human development challenge. Despite enormous economic progress achieved in the past two to three decades, malnutrition rates continue to be high especially among children and adolescents in both urban and rural India. The shining India is in shade on these important human development indicators. Adolescents in India especially those residing in tribal regions are at high nutritional risk and face health issues such as anemia and chronic disorders. This paper investigates the prevalence, causes and socio-economic-cultural determinants of malnutrition among 11 to 18 years old adolescent tribal girls from the districts of Adilabad, Komaram-Bheem Asifabad and Mancherial in Telangana state. The cross sectional survey collected data in the year 2017 on socio-economic, demographic, diet and anthropometric indicators from 695 tribal adolescent girls out of 2542 tribal households. The analysis of the anthropometric data reveals that about 67 percent of adolescent girls are undernourished having a BMI of less than 18.5. The results revealed that stunting and thinness was highly prevalent among the tribal adolescent girls. Overweight or obesity is not of particular concern in the studied tribal adolescent girls. These adolescents also lack basic awareness about food, nutrition, health and overall wellbeing. The paper ultimately determines the need for a concerted combination of policies and programs specifically aimed at adolescents in the tribal regions addressing poverty, education, nutrition literacy, empowerment to challenge the existing cultural norms related to food consumption and access to diverse diets both in terms of quantity and quality