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Intersectional Inequalities in Anthropometric Failure among Indian Children: Evidence from the National Family Health Survey (2015-2016)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2022

Tulsi Adhikari Open the ORCID record for Tulsi Adhikari [Opens in a new window] ,
Niharika Tripathi Open the ORCID record for Niharika Tripathi [Opens in a new window] ,
Jeetendra Yadav Open the ORCID record for Jeetendra Yadav [Opens in a new window] ,
Himanshu Tolani ,
M. Vishnu Vardhana Rao ,
Harpreet Kaur  and
Manjeet Singh Chalga
Tulsi Adhikari
Affiliation:
Scientist-F, ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS), New Delhi-110029
Niharika Tripathi*
Affiliation:
Research Associate, ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS), New Delhi-110029
Jeetendra Yadav
Affiliation:
Technical Officer, ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS), New Delhi-110029
Himanshu Tolani
Affiliation:
Research Associate, ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS), New Delhi-110029
M. Vishnu Vardhana Rao
Affiliation:
Director & Scientist- G, ICMR-National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS), New Delhi-110029
Harpreet Kaur
Affiliation:
Scientist-F, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi-110029
Manjeet Singh Chalga
Affiliation:
Scientist-D, Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi-110029
*
*Corresponding Author. Email: niharika.t2010@gmail.com
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Abstract

Increasing body of health planning and policy research focused upon unravelling the fundamental drivers of population health and nutrition inequities, such as wealth status, educational status, caste/ethnicity, gender, place of residence, and geographical context, that often interact to produce health inequalities. However, very few studies have employed intersectional framework to explicitly demonstrate how intersecting dimensions of privilege, power, and resources form the burden of anthropometric failures of children among low-and-middle income countries including India. Data on 2,15,554 sampled children below 5 years of age from the National Family Health Survey 2015-2016 were analysed. This study employed intersectional approach to examine caste group inequalities in the anthropometric failure (i.e. moderate stunting, severe stunting, moderate underweight, severe underweight, moderate wasting, severe wasting) among children in India. Descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression models were fitted to investigate the heterogeneities in the burden of anthropometric failure across demographic, socioeconomic and contextual factors. Interaction effects were estimated to model the joint effects of socioeconomic position (household wealth, maternal education, urban/rural residence and geographical region) and caste groups with the likelihood of anthropometric failure among children.

More than half of under-5 children suffered from anthropometric failure in India. Net of the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, children from the disadvantageous caste groups whose mother were illiterate, belonged to economically poor households, resided in the rural areas, and coming from the central and eastern regions experienced disproportionately higher risk of anthropometric failure than their counterparts in India. Concerted policy processes must recognize the existing heterogeneities between and within population groups to improve the precision targeting of the beneficiary and enhance the efficiency of the nutritional program among under-5 children, particularly for the historically marginalized caste groups in India.

Keywords

Anthropometric failureIntersectional InequalitiesMultinomial logistic regression modelUnder-5 childrenIndia
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 55 , Issue 4 , July 2023 , pp. 669 - 696
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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