VARANASI: When the political class of the country is busy creating uproar in the Parliament on the issue of women reservation, the most essential and primary need of the fair sex-- particularly the adolescent girls--which is proper nourishment, has been overlooked.
If the analysis of a study conducted by the medicos of Banaras Hindu University (BHU) is to be believed, the nutritional status of adolescent girls has been far from satisfactory and it calls for urgent interventions at individual, family as well as community level.
To assess the nutritional status of adolescent girls, the department of community medicine (preventive and social medicine), Institute of Medical Science (IMS), BHU, conducted a community-based pilot study on 270 rural adolescent girls in Chiraigaon block. The study was conducted by Seema Choudhary, resident; CP Mishra, reader, and former professor KP Shukla. The study was also published in the Indian Journal of Prevention and Social Medicine in 2003.
According to the study report, the nutritional status of the girls was assessed by clinical examination, anthropometry and haemoglobin estimation. In clinical examination, 53.33 per cent adolescent girls were of normal build. Vitamin A, B and C deficiencies were present in 13.70 per cent, 4.07 per cent and 15.92 per cent girls respectively. Besides, 25.90 per cent and 13.33 per cent girls had anaemia and dental caries and correspondingly value for iodine deficiency disorders (IDD) was 4.44 per cent. As much as 19.63 per cent adolescent girls suffered from chronic energy deficiency (CED) grade I; corresponding value for grade II and grade III was 17.78 per cent and 31.11 per cent respectively.
Nutritional anaemia has been considered as an important problem in adolescent girls. Clinically one out of four adolescent girls suffers from anaemia. One third of the adolescent girls suffer from chronic energy deficiency grade III, which reflects high degree of nutritional insult in them. The adolescent girls are the worst sufferers of the ravages of various forms of malnutrition since the beginning of adolescent period. This phenomenon remains uninterrupted throughout their life. At the time of Independence, maternal and childhood mortality was at peak. Since the first developmental plan, emphasis had been put on nutritional status of under five children through a number of initiatives, including Integrated Child Development Scheme.
However, benefits of various nutrition programmes have not been so profound particularly in case of girl child. It is now realised that nutritional insult at earlier ages leaves their mark during adolescence. Besides, this is a period of great turbulence. Because of puberty spurt, rapid physical growth takes place during this period and therefore nutritional requirements are quite different. Unfortunately, assessment of nutritional status of adolescent girls has been the least explored area of research particularly in rural India, says the report.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/varanasi/More-than-quota-fair-se...