Nutritional Status And Mother's Health
(S.K BASU)
Nutritional statu and mother's health The health and nutrition problems of the vast tribal population of India were as varied as the tribal groups themselves who presented a bewildering diversity and variety in their socio-economic, socio-cultural and ecological settings. The nutritional problems of different tribal communities located at various stages of development were full of obscurities and very little scientific information on dietary habits and nutrition status was available due to lack of systematic and comprehensive research investigations. Malnutrition was common and greatly affected the ability to resist infection, led to chronic illness and in the post weaning period led to permanent brain impairment. Good . nutrition was a requirement throughout life and was vital to women in terms of their health and work. Nutritional anemia was a major problem for women in India and more so in the rural and tribal belt. In developing countries, it was estimated that at least half of the non-pregnant and two thirds of the pregnant women were anemic ((U.N., 1984). The situation was particularly serious in view of the fact that both rural and tribal women had a heavy work load and anemia had a profound effect on their psychological and physical health. Anemia lowered resistance to fatigue, affected working capacity under conditions of stress and increased susceptibility to other diseases. Maternal malnutrition which was quite common among the tribal women was also a serious health problem, especially for those having many pregnancies too closely spaces, and reflected the complex socio-economic factors that affected their overall situation. The nutritional status of pregnant women directly influenced their reproductive performance and the birth is crucial to an infant's chances of survival and to its subsequent growth and development. Nutrition also affected location and breast feeding which were key elements in the health of infants and young children and a contributory factor in birth spacing. Scanning through available data, it was observed that among most of the tribal groups the staple diet was rice or minor millets except the Mompas of Assam who consumed wheat also (Basu et al. 1985). Birds, fish and other meat products were also consumed by the tribals occasionally. Diet of not a single tribal in the different Status of India can be said to be sully satisfactory. Tribal diets were generally grossly deficient in Calcium, Vit.A, Vit.C, riboflavin and animal protein. Diets of South Indian tribes in general, and of Kerala in particular, were grossly deficient even in respect of calories and total protein. Studies carried out at the National Institute of Nutrition (1971) and Planning Commission of India (Sixth Five Year Plan, Government of India) reported a high protein calorie malnutrition along the rice-eating belts. Studies available on the dietary status and health of the Bihar and Maharashtra found deficiency calorie as well as protein and essential amino acids in their diets though major signs of nutritional deficiencies were not observed (Chitre, 1976). Surveys on the nutritional deficiencies (Gopalan, 1971) among the tribals reported a high incidence of goitre, angular stomatitis among the Mompas of Assam and Vit. A deficiency among the Onges. A high incidence of malnutrition was observed (Ali 1980, Basu et al., 1990, Mahapatra and Das, 1990) in some primitive tribal groups in Phulbani, Koraput and Sundergarh districts of Orissa and also among Bhils and Garasia of Rajasthan, Padars, Rabris and Charans of Gujarat and Bondas of Orissa (Haque, 1990). Studies of tribal communities in Orissa conducted by Ali (1992) found that an ecological imbalance caused by rapid deforestation had resulted not only in depleting food resources, but in prolonged droughts, adding to hunger and starvation.
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