A cross sectional study of the nutritional status was made on 123 Raj Gond
(tribal community of Central India) preschool children (62 boys and 61 girls;
aged 1 to 5 years) in the Waratola village of Balaghat district of Madhya
Pradesh, India. Anthropometric nutritional status was assessed by WHO
criterion (SD classification) and also NCHS standard using weight for age,
height for age, weight for height indices and MUAC. The prevalence of nutritional deficiency was also investigated by clinical signs. The results revealed
that there was high prevalence of underweight (37.4%), stunting (46.3%),
wasting (41.5%) and low MUAC (50.4%) as well as different grades of malnutrition. Boys suffered these more than the girls. Comparatively, Raj Gond
preschool children were nutritionally more wasted than Gond and other nontribal preschool children of Madhya Pradesh. When gradation of malnutrition
was compared with other tribal and caste preschool children of Central India,
it was observed that the present children studied suffered more by different
grades of protein energy malnutrition (PEM). The poorer nutritional status
was also reflected through high prevalence of sparse hair (18.7%), conjunctival
xeroxis (18.7%), angular stomatitis (32.5%) and other nutritional deficiency
signs. All these observations suggest that preschool children need better
nutrition to combat the problem of PEM. Further studies should be made to
identify the factors responsible for it