Health inequalities, experienced by various individuals or groups in society, can be the result of genetic and biological factors, choices made or by chance, but mostly they are because of unequal access to socio-economic factors such as income, education, employment and social supports. These socio-economic determinants strongly interact to influence health and an improvement in any of these can produce an improvement in both health behaviour and outcomes among individuals and groups (WHO 2003). Education and occupation are among the most frequently used socio-economic determinants of health, as enormous evidence suggests their association with health behaviour and many social outcomes. Although, used less frequently, economic indicators such
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The challenge to address undernutrition in the Indian context appears manifold as it is not limited to just access to affordable diets (Viswanathan 2014). Even though a person may be food secured, he or she may not necessarily be nutritionally secured (WHO 2001). Regions and population groups largely dependent on agriculture are usually poorer and more undernourished. However, it is also observed that regions which are very prosperous in agriculture may have low undernourishment and poverty rates. In states like Punjab and Kerala with better development, a typical scenario emerged. Here, higher inequality in malnutrition prevalence was found at the lower levels of stunted children. In contrast to the urban children, the process of recovery from poor nutritional status in later life is more difficult for the children of rural households as they have more difficulty in coming out of ‘undernutrition trap’ when they pass to adolescent and adulthood (Mishra 2007). Addressing the problem of malnutrition involves a change in social, economic and behavioral aspects with a proactive involvement of the state to scale up, improve targeting and strengthen the implementation of various programs (Viswanathan …show more content…
The analysis of the nutritional status of children in India would be incomplete without paying attention to the health related socio-economic disparities that exist between and within the states, and the inequalities that persist among different sub-groups of the population. Therefore, understanding the nature and determinants of socio-economic inequality in malnutrition is essential in contemplating the health of sub-groups of a population. More importantly, there is a great need to focus the attention of stakeholders and policy-makers, particularly on the nutritional status of school-going children as one of the main indicators of development and as a pre-condition for the socio-economic advancement of societies in the long term. It is believed that placing children at the heart of inclusive growth strategies will ensure India’s continuing progress on the economic, social and political fronts. In this regard, the study attempts to measure the extent of socio-economic and regional disparities in the prevalence of malnutrition among school going children in Punjab and to realize the role of socio-economic status (SES) as the contextual determinant of nutritional status of the
The challenge to address undernutrition in the Indian context appears manifold as it is not limited to just access to affordable diets (Viswanathan 2014). Even though a person may be food secured, he or she may not necessarily be nutritionally secured (WHO 2001). Regions and population groups largely dependent on agriculture are usually poorer and more undernourished. However, it is also observed that regions which are very prosperous in agriculture may have low undernourishment and poverty rates. In states like Punjab and Kerala with better development, a typical scenario emerged. Here, higher inequality in malnutrition prevalence was found at the lower levels of stunted children. In contrast to the urban children, the process of recovery from poor nutritional status in later life is more difficult for the children of rural households as they have more difficulty in coming out of ‘undernutrition trap’ when they pass to adolescent and adulthood (Mishra 2007). Addressing the problem of malnutrition involves a change in social, economic and behavioral aspects with a proactive involvement of the state to scale up, improve targeting and strengthen the implementation of various programs (Viswanathan …show more content…
The analysis of the nutritional status of children in India would be incomplete without paying attention to the health related socio-economic disparities that exist between and within the states, and the inequalities that persist among different sub-groups of the population. Therefore, understanding the nature and determinants of socio-economic inequality in malnutrition is essential in contemplating the health of sub-groups of a population. More importantly, there is a great need to focus the attention of stakeholders and policy-makers, particularly on the nutritional status of school-going children as one of the main indicators of development and as a pre-condition for the socio-economic advancement of societies in the long term. It is believed that placing children at the heart of inclusive growth strategies will ensure India’s continuing progress on the economic, social and political fronts. In this regard, the study attempts to measure the extent of socio-economic and regional disparities in the prevalence of malnutrition among school going children in Punjab and to realize the role of socio-economic status (SES) as the contextual determinant of nutritional status of the