ANTHROPOMETRY MEASUREMENT OF BHIL TRIBE CHILDREN AND THEIR GENERAL HEALTH PROBLEMS

The present study was conducted in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan state. The Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe population in Bhilwara district is 16.9% and 9.5% respectively whereas the State percent of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe population is 17.8 and 13.5 respectively [1]. There are eleven block in Bhilwara district. List of block was obtained from the Block Development Officer (B.D.O.) The sample consists of 500 Bhil tribe children comprising of 237 boys and 263 girls aged between 4 to 12 year old. In this study thinness has been assessed using the indicator BMI- for- age and compared with the z-score classification by WHO [2] and as per the data it was observed that 79.55% in 4-6 year age group were found to be suffering from moderate malnutrition as compared to 85.19% for girls. In 7-9 year age group, 76.14% boys were moderately under nourished while for girls it is 83.23%. In 10-12 year age group, 56.23% boys were moderately under nourished while for girls it is 69.45%. Under 4-6 year age group, 20.45% boys and 14.85% girls were optimally nourished. Similarly, for 7-9 year age group, the figure stands at 24.13% boys and 17.77% girls. Likewise, for 10-12 year age group, the figure stands at 43.77% boys and 30.55% girls. Anemia incidence was very high (40.40%) predominantly among Girls, caused mainly by blood loss due to menstruation. Almost 3.6% and 5.8% children suffer from diarrhea and vomiting due to dehydration and unhygienic food in their diet. Skin infection (39.80%) and eye infection (1.20%) were prevalent too. Dry eye, allergic conjunctivitis, or red eye are main causes of eye infection. Acne vulgaris is most common, chronic inflammatory disease of skin, affecting children.