26. Association of Nutritional Status and Drinking Water Among the Children of North East India

The first Millennium Development Goal deals with eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. While hunger continues to decline, progress in reducing undernutrition has been uneven across the world and even within the country. The prevalence of underweight and stunted children under-five years of age is considered as an indicator to measure undernutrition situation. In the context where food availability and access is primarily achieved, the prevalence of undernutrition indicates towards the nutritional aspect of food security. Drinking water is one of the most important factors that needs to be considered while we deal with the utilization dimension of food security. In this context, the chapter intends to focus on the association of drinking water with the nutritional status of children (0–5) years of North East India. For this study, data were taken from the latest round of National Family Health Survey-III (2005–2006). For assessing the nutritional status of children; Weight-for-age and Height-for-age are mainly considered. Results show that undernutrition level is the highest in Tripura and Assam as compared to the other northeastern states. We have also seen the relation between nutritional status and other socio-demographic variables. Expected results were obtained. Statistically significant association was found between drinking water and nutritional status. The chapter also discusses the possibilities of integrating human rights-based approaches, in relevant national MDG-based policies to combat the problem.