Nutritional and anemia levels among women in Maharashtra: A socio-Economic analysis

Context: Good nutrition means “maintaining nutritional status that enables us to grow well and enjoy good health”. The nutritional status of women is important both for the quality of their own lives and the survival and healthy development of their children. Nutritional status of women in India is posing a serious challenge not only for nutritional policy but also for socio-economic and welfare policies. Therefore, this study assesses the determinants of nutritional status and anaemia level among women in Maharashtra.Methods and Material: Third round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3, 2005-06) data, descriptive statistics such as multivariate statistics such as multinomial logistic regression are used and, a widely used indicator of nutritional status namely, Body Mass Index (BMI). Nationally representative sample of 109,041 households and 124,385 women with all women aged 15-49 years. The NFHS-3 covered all the 29 states of India.Results: In Maharashtra half of the women are under nutrition and anaemic. The percentage of women suffering from under nutrition is higher in rural areas (44.4 per cent) than in urban areas (26.4 per cent).Conclusions: A close association was found between low Body mass index of the women who are illiterate, not involved in economic activity. This study revealed that women of low economic status households have the highest prevalence of under nutrition, majority of women fall under this group are undernourished and severely anaemic