Assessment of Nutritional Status and Nutrition Knowledge of Adolescent Girls (13 18 years) residing in urban slum areas of Jaipur city

Abstract

Diet and nutrients have a critical position during adolescence phase of life. Poor nutrition in this period may cause growth retardation and delay in development. Optimal nutrition, particularly in the case of adolescent girls, becomes very important because of their increased nutritional requirements. Moreover, adolescent girls belonging to low marginalized communities, like slum areas, may suffer from malnutrition due to poverty, gender discrimination and other socio-cultural norms. Further, less age and young undernourished pregnant women may give birth to babies having low weight. This may lead to nutritional deficiencies and increased chances of mortality among both, child and the mother. The present research work was conducted to assess nutrition knowledge as well as nutritional status of the girls (between 13-18 years) habitant of urban slums of Jhotwara areas of Jaipur city. A sample of 65 adolescent girls (13-18 years) was selected from two slum areas in Jhotwara. Major findings of the study revealed dietary consumption of the respondents to be unsatisfactory and more than 58% subjects to be undernourished. BMI values showed no significant relation with socio-economic status and dietary habits. Most of the girls (73.3%) showed poor knowledge regarding nutriti on and showed no association with BMI and age. Present findings revealed that problem of under-nutrition was very prominent in adolescent girls of urban slum area and they had poor nutrition knowledge. Thus, a need was felt for imparting nutrition educati on to the girls of adolescent age group. It can be done both at school and community level in order to bring a positive change in their nutritional as well as health status.