Factors influencing status of undernutrition among children (0-5 years) in a rural area of Delhi: a cross-sectional study

The problem of undernutrition is rampant in many states of India as found by many researchers in past. In so called “BIMARU” states such as Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Bihar have very high rates of undernutrition. Moreover most studies also reveal variable prevalence’s of undernutrition in different states of India ranging from 35% to 60% [41.2% in Dehradun; 2 to 37% in Kerala the rates of under nutrition (even among beneficiaries of ICDS program) 3 ] and it was noted to be 57.4% in district Meerut of Uttar Pradesh in last one decade. 4 Study in Bareilly by Joshi HS et al. (2011) on PEM in under 6 years children had also found a prevalence rate of 49.44% and this had direct association with caste, poor housing and environmental sanitations and low standard of living index. 5 Even in in Latur ABSTRACT