Burden of Malnutrition in Kerala: A District Wise Analysis among Children under the Age of Five

Malnutrition among children continues to remain a critical public health concern. Despite the advances made in the field of health and education, Kerala is still crippled with the persistent and the emerging forms of malnutrition. This study is an attempt to analyse the burden of malnutrition in Kerala, manifested in the form of stunting, wasting, underweight and overweight among the children under the age of five, with special focus on the district level variation. Understanding the district level variation will help in developing the targeted, locally specific interventions. Understanding these patterns is necessary for designing, planning and implementing effective intervention to improve child nutrition and health outcome. The findings of the study point towards high variability in the nutritional outcome across the districts and presence of double burden of malnutrition, thus calling in for a more multifaceted, integrated, and context specific interventions.