Nutritional Status of Slum Children of Mumbai-A Socio-Economic Survey

A Socio-Economic Survey IN June 1993, the authors and a group of students conducted a sample survey of households in a slum settlement beside the Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research in Gorsgaon, Mumbai. As part of this socio-economic survey of households, we collected anthropometric data on all children in the surveyed households who were five years of age or below. These anthropometric data included information on the height, weight and midarm circumference of each child. In this paper, we present a brief account of the socioeconomic characteristics of households in the surveyed settlement, and attempt to identify the prevalence of undernutrition among children using the available anthropometric data.