Author(s): Archana Prabhat, Soumya Malla

Abstract:
Rapid socio-economic transition leads to malnutrition. Those belonging to socio-economically backward groups especially, early childhood are nutritionally the most vulnerable segments of the population. Any nutritional insults during this period results into under or over nutrition. Objective: To study the influence of Socio Economic Status (SES) on various grades of malnutrition. Material and Method: Total of 200 preschool children, 100 each from rural and urban areas were randomly selected. Anthropometric measurements were taken using standard techniques. Results: Comparatively rural children tend to show a high percentage of underweight (69%) than urban ones (53%). 25% of urban children had stunted growth where in the rural areas it was 45%. Of the total population, wasting was in the range 26-27%. The difference was highly significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: It is obvious from the present study that children from the urban areas were well nourished in comparison with the rural ones.