Health and Socio-Economic Conditions of Mother Among the Adivasi Children of Jorhat District of Assam.

Background: Health during childhood plays a vital role in the overall development of human being. Though significant progress has been made globally to improve child health, yet vast disparities exist across communities and countries. The present study was conducted to understand the health of the children and its association with socio-economic conditions of mothers. Method: A community based crosssectional study was conducted in 7 randomly selected tea garden areas of Jorhat district of Assam. Data on overall child health, birth-weight, breast feeding practices and socioeconomic conditions were collected from each mother. Different anthropometric measurements of each child were also collected. Result: The present study shows that the frequency of underweight, stunting and wasting was 36.67 percent, 40.59 percent and 14.42 percent respectively. 38.63 percent of the children have low birth weight and 13.93 percent of children are suffering from different illness. Conclusion: Educational level of mothers and income level have a positive association with overall health of children. Maternal education is also found to have a significant association with the birth weight of children. Under-nutrition is a serious health concern among the Adivasi children of tea garden areas of Jorhat district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]