Abstract:
This study was undertaken to find out the magnitude of the problem of under nutrition among
the rural school going children of ages 4 to 14 years and also to identify the epidemiological
factors influencing the nutritional status. All 1808 school going children of 49 villages of
Dharwad and Haliyal taluks were included in the study undertaken during Mar-Apr 2005.
Systematic random sampling was applied and 557 children were studied for nutritional
assessment. Both the criteria for spotting under nutrition namely using the WHO/Govt. of
India Road to Health card and also the CDC 2000 Standard for BMI for the given age and sex
were followed. The morbidity rate in the universe was 62.9% and the nutrition related
disorders rate was 59.4%. The anthropometric methods spotted 44.4% of children as
underweight /having lean BMI. Nutrition related disorders were not related to either the
father’s or the mother’s neither illiteracy nor they were related to type of the occupation of
the father. They were associated with the presence of underweight/lean body mass index
(p<0.01). More boys than girls had nutrition related disorders (p<0.05). Backward Hindu
(p<0.001) as well as Muslim and Christians had more nutrition related disorders than forward
Hindu children (p<0.05). The literacy status was higher among forward Hindu parents than
backward Hindus (p<0.02) and least among Muslims (p<0.05). The backward community
children had better weight for age / BMI profile than forwards (p<0.005). Higher BMI among
the Siddhi community, a backward community originating from Arab slave trade from Africa
living in the north eastern districts of Karnataka and Goa is documented in another one or two
studies of this kind. The usefulness of WHO/GOI Road to Health card and the CDC-2000-
BMI Standards for Nutritional Surveillance of school age children can yield higher dividends
before clinical methods pick up or spot the nutrition related disorders. Periodic deworming,
anti anaemia measures, nutrition education in addition to hygiene education and vitamin A
supplementation in school age up to 14 years are recommended. Backward communities
including Siddhi community need to be targeted. Literacy is not enough; what is needed is
Nutrition education of the parents of the school age children.
