World Journal of
Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences

EFFECT OF MATERNAL LITERACY FOOD INSECURITY ON THE NUTRITIONAL STATUS OF CHILDREN AGE 1-5 YEARS IN RURAL AREAS OF RUDRAPRAYAG

Anjali Rauthan and Ankita Sharma*

ABSTRACT

Child malnutrition is the major problem in developing countries like India. This research worked on the factors “maternal literacy” and “food insecurity”. Mother’s education which plays major role in giving the child primary care during early years of life and food insecurity effect the child’s health by not fulfilling dietary requirements of a child. Child nutritional status was calculated using tools to measure anthropometric measurements and maternal education level was observed with the help of a questionnaire and household food insecurity was measured using standard questionnaire of NHANES 2013. From the analysis, we noticed that 33% of children were stunted, 5% were underweight, 1% wasted, 18% both underweight and stunted, 6% both underweight and wasted and 31% were healthy, it was also concluded that there is “strong positive relation between child nutritional status and maternal education”. The frequency of feeding child was also very low in mothers which lead to child malnutrition because mothers were engaged in agricultural activities. Food insecurity was very low in rural areas of uttarakhand because they were dependent on the cultivated crops and available wild vegetables and fruits.

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