Issues on Health and Healthcare in India

Anemia is a common and difficult health problem in Bangladesh. Study on anemia of Bangladeshi nonpregnant married women is weakly recognized. This study examined how various anthropometric, socioeconomic, and demographic factors associated with anemia of married women in Bangladesh. For this is a cross-sectional study, data was taken from Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS)-2011. The nationally representative sample (5293 married women) was selected by multistage cluster sampling. Multilevel logistic regression analysis was used in this study. The prevalence of anemia among Bangladeshi married women is more than 41% and among anemic women, 35.5, 5.6, and 0.2% were, respectively, mildly, moderately, and severely affected. Multilevel logistic regression model demonstrated that women, who are currently breastfeeding and with amenorrhea, are more likely (p < 0.01) to get anemia than their counterparts. Underweight women have a higher chance (p < 0.01) to get anemia than normal weight, overweight, and obese. Uneducated women are more likely to get anemia (p < 0.01) than secondary and higher educated. Anemia is particularly marked among married women who have electricity at home (p < 0.01), currently use contraceptive (p < 0.05), are non-Muslim (p < 0.01) and come from highest wealth quintile family (p < 0.01). Moreover, women who are 30–49 years old are more likely to get anemia than those who are younger. Undernutrition is the most important predictor for anemia among Bangladeshi married women and undernourished women are usually living under poor condition. Government of Bangladesh should take administrative steps to improve economic condition for removing anemia among married women.

Low birth weight (LBW) is a major public health concern especially in developing countries which frequently is related to child morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to identify key determinants that influence the prevalence of LBW babies in 10 selected developing countries. We conducted a secondary data analyses from the recent Demography and Health Surveys (DHS) in 10 selected developing countries. Only numerical type of birth weight data were considered for the analyses. We performed multivariate logistic regression analysis to present the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). We find that the overall prevalence of LBW in the study countries was 15.9% with a range of 9.0–35.1%. Results of the study demonstrated that maternal age of 35–49 years (OR = 1.66, 95% CI: 0.45–1.96), antenatal care (OR = 1.75; 95% CI: 1.08–2.82), illiteracy (OR = 1.54;0.39–1.74), later conception (OR = 1.88; 95% CI: 1.40–2.53), underweight (OR = 1.59; 95% CI: 1.21–2.09) and wealth status (OR = 1.15, 95% CI: 0.93–1.41) were significantly associated with prevalence of low birth weight. This study identified a number of determinants that have a direct influence on the prevalence of low birth weight. Strategies should be taken to improve the overall maternal health status, and thus to reduce further adverse health sequence progression. Efforts on community-based intervention programs will likely reduce the occurrence of LBW infants.

Teenage pregnancy is basically associated with higher rates of adverse health consequences like morbidity and mortality of both teen pregnant and newly born babies, and thus has important implications for human resources and development prospects of a country. This paper tries to enlighten on the incidence of teenage pregnancy and its variations across states and Union Territories (UTs) of India. In addition, it also seeks to examine whether teenage pregnancy has any adverse impact on health status of children. Based on data from National Family Health Survey 3 (NFHS 3), analysis reveals that incidence of teenage pregnancy varies across place of residence, religion, caste, region etc. To find out the impact of teenage pregnancy on child health a multiple regression model has been estimated where the dependent variable child ill health index has been considered as a proxy for child health. The analysis reveals that teenage pregnancy is associated with poor child health status. Moreover, maternal care during pregnancy has been found to be positively associated with child health status.

This study is conducted in an exploratory framework to examine the strength of association among antecedent and outcome variables with psychological well-being (PWB) in an organizational setting. Determinants included Individual factors like conscientiousness, optimism and resilience and organizational factor like organizational culture. The impact of psychological well-being was examined on mental health, which ultimately affects individual performance, organizational and social engagements. The data were collected using a structured interview schedule from 332 employees of manufacturing and services sector. The data were subjected to differential analysis, correlation and regression analysis to examine the hypothesized relationship amongst variables. The results showed differences in employee perception with regard to gender, education level, age and the job level. The correlation results suggest that most of the variables were positively related. The MRA results suggest that conscientiousness, optimism and resilience significantly contributed to PWB. Further, organizational culture significantly contributed to PWB. The results also suggest that PWB significantly contributes towards mental health. The study has contributed to the literature examining the dynamic interplay of those factors which influence PWB, to have happy and healthy employees who may be better engaged. The study has its implication for managers, researchers and policy makers as they should try to facilitate a culture and physical work environment to create a positive force for psychological well-being of the employees.

The International Safe Motherhood Initiative Conference, launched in 1987 at Nairobi, Kenya established Safe Motherhood Initiative to address issues of maternal health that had long been neglected. However, some issues of maternal health particularly maternal anemia have hitherto received very little attention and priority in these agendas. Maternal anemia is directly and indirectly related with adverse outcome of pregnancy during and after delivery. It increases the incidence of high-risk pregnancy, still birth, infant death, and maternal mortality. There are numbers of initiative from the Central Government to reduce maternal anemia through antenatal care, taking iron and folic acid supplements. Although such intervention has achieved some progress in targeting the pregnant women, maternal anemia is still a widespread public health challenge. This chapter identifies the context-specific causes of maternal anemia that would help in taking appropriate preventive measures to combat anemia in a particular geographical arena rather than universal, “one-size-fits-all” type intervention. In other words, it will help in channelizing scarce resources according to the local needs. The current work that is based on empirical observation provides insights on significant influence of social contexts and dietary intake on hemoglobin concentration among pregnant women in different sets of geographical location within districts of Assam. Therefore, examining the socioeconomic context-specific causes of maternal anemia is helpful in taking effective preventive measures and a better target for improvement of hemoglobin level among the pregnant women. In this regards, food-based approach can be considered as one of the effective intervention for multi-nutritional benefits.

Using data from various secondary sources this chapter shows that the patterns of morbidity, utilisation of public and private healthcare facilities and economic burden of illness reflect the geographic contiguity in north-eastern states. Further, the analyses of determinants of income loss due to ailment indicate the economic vulnerability of people in north-eastern region due to health reasons, in particular. Recent adoption of the Clinical Establishment Act (CEA) of 2010 in some north-eastern States not only sets standards for health infrastructure and provides guidance for cost of health services, it also helps in (a) addressing the critical gaps in human resources in health facilities that force the consumers to seek healthcare beyond their own states and (b) reducing the health induced economic vulnerabilities among consumers in the north-eastern region of India.

In India, northeastern region constituted of eight states having a low symmetry of poverty, non-development and insurgencies. On the other, it is unique in a sense that it has more or less similar economic and geographical attributes in all these states. In such a preface of northeastern region, the major objective of the present study are (i) to see the magnitude of difference of Chronic Energy Deficiency (CED) between poor and non-poor women; (ii) its variation across the states, and (iii) to see the probable reason for variation, if any. The data set is constituted of 9402 women from eight states in Northeast India of NFHS-3, 2005–2006. BMI is considered as a measure of undernutrition. Some socioeconomic variables are also considered as causal effect to nutritional status. For each state, economic classification such as poor and non-poor group has made through the wealth index of the family. To determine the relationship between CED of women by poor and non-poor, the percentage of poor CED women is subtracted from that of non-poor women. Thus, a positive sign means poor women are more affected than non-poor women while negative sign means the opposite. Categorical logistic regression has performed between dependent (nutritional status) and independent (socioeconomic) variables to establish the probable reason for cause and effects of differences. The salient findings are that there is a large disparity between the occurrence of poor and non-poor conditions as well as undernutrition in different states of Northeast India. The basic deviation from non-poor and poor women—higher education, service holding, safe drinking and toilet facility—have a positive impact on undernutrition. The implications of the other findings are discussed in the chapter.

Malaria and Hb E are endemic in some regions of northeast India and the rate of prevalence varies among populations and between regions. Of the total burden, malaria and its mortality in northeastern states of India contribute 10% of malaria incidence and 20% of deaths and the frequency of Hb E varies from 10% to more than 50%. Apart from other reasons, genetic causes play a major role in the manifestation of the disease. Both are a major public health hazard issues with implications for economic, social and administrative problems to the state and the nation. To be able to minimise the economic burden of these health problems, it is necessary to understand the genetic basis of these traits. Genetic basis of diseases and health economics is an emerging area discussed under the purview of ‘econo-genomics’. Perhaps northeast region is one of the best examples that give us scope to get into the study of econo-genomics. Apart from health and hygiene, the variable distribution of malaria could be due to differential susceptibility attributed primarily to genetic causes. Some specific regional populations are more susceptible to malaria where some regional populations show resistance to malaria. These are little investigated among the regional populations and in other parts of India. It is known that the genetic traits like Hb E and G6PD deficiency are involved in the protection against malarial infection that might explain the differential prevalence of malaria in the region. Based on field studies in Meghalaya we investigated the health and genetic implications of malaria and Hb E and its social, health and other factors that manifest at the family level. Depending on the genetic status of the Hb E trait, the health (incidence of malaria) and other parameters (economic and others) vary. It is emphasised that ‘econo-genomics’ studies are important for national-level health economic planning and management of disease like malaria and Hb E.

In many societies, children suffer from unfavourable socio-economic and environmental conditions, which usually damage the prospect of their physical growth and strip them off schooling opportunities. In the absence of availability of adequate nutritional diet, immunisation etc., children suffer from stunted and wasted growth and underweight relative to their age. Further scarcity of resources and resulting poverty also wane the health, and educational development of children. Health-related deprivation index of children has been calculated by using Principal Component Analysis. A recursive simultaneous equation framework has been used to explain the variation of health deprivation of children as well as educational deprivation across the major Indian states, on the basis of some identified explanatory variables. The results suggest that factors like poverty, female literacy rate, low body mass index of mother and full antenatal care have significant association with the level of deprivation. Dropout rate of children has been considered as an index of education deprivation. Several characteristics of household atmosphere of the deprived children including female literacy, poverty, availability of electricity, gender of household head and children health condition have significant impact on the extent of their educational deprivation status. Immediate urgent steps are needed to promote better health and education of the deprived children through implementation of different Government schemes and NGO efforts.

An increase in the state of health helps to achieve a maximum productive capacity of human capital and thereby increase the productivity of the market. So, sound health plays an important role for the economic growth and development of the country. But India is still lagging behind in achieving most of the health-related Millennium Development Goals. Within India, Assam is facing a lot of challenges to fulfill the goals of improving its health outcomes with an estimated GDP per capita Rs. 12,163 and the poverty head count ratio of 36.1% (2011), indicating Assam as one of the poorest states of India. However, some success has been achieved in the health outcomes of India by increasing the share of public expenditure on health with the implementation of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). In this respect, the present study makes an attempt to examine the performance of health indicators in Assam over the years. In order to investigate whether there is any structural change in pre-launch and post-launch of NRHM, Bai and Perron test has been used for the period 1995–2013. The study also examines the relative influence of state public expenditure on the performance index of health indicators of Assam with the help of linear regression model. The study is based on secondary data collected from Ministry of Health and family Welfare department of India, Planning Commission of India and Reserve Bank of India’s State Finance-A study of the Budget. The study reveals that performance of health indicators of Assam has been showing a positive trend over time and there are three break points in the performance index namely 2002, 2005, and 2009. It has found that there is a positive and significant impact of public health expenditure on the performance index of health indicators of Assam. So, public intervention is necessary especially through the NRHM in making healthcare service affordable by all in order to improve health outcomes of Assam.

The present chapter assesses the burden of infant mortality on socio-economic classes by measuring the effects of socio-economic classes on infant mortality. The socio-economic classes as provided by the District Level Household and Facility Survey (DLHS-3) conducted by International Institute of Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai in collaboration with Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, and district-level infant mortality data for the seven northeast Indian states as reported by MoHFW are used for the analysis. The data exhibit a high degree of intra-state correlation as well as a high degree of inter-district spatial correlation. A generalized linear mixed model approach capitalizing on the intra-state correlation is adopted for the analysis. Further, spatial analysis of data has been performed using Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) model. The results are discussed and mapped.

India is on the track to become the world’s most populous country in about a decade, even though there is more than 50% decline in its fertility rate since 1950 to 2.3 children per woman in 2013. In spite of a huge accelerated fertility decline, it has still been passing through the third phase of demographic transition, and yet to reach the replacement level of fertility for population stabilization. In this article, we analyse the role of rural–urban differential pace and timing of fertility decline in India for achieving the target of replacement. We use time series data on total fertility rate from sample registration system provided by the Office of The Registrar General, India to answer a set of the following questions. (i) Is the nation’s fertility transition is typical of its rural part or has it proceeded at a different pace of decline? (ii) To what extent the transition characteristics, e.g. pace and timing are different in rural and urban parts of the nation? Do we identify distinct rural–urban trajectories? (iii) Do these differentials play a significant role in taking the nation towards fourth stage of demographic transition from the third stage? We have used the method of change point analysis to identify the significant change points associated with total fertility rates of rural, urban and the entire country as a whole during 1971–2013. Finally, using a class of ARIMA, models forecasts are obtained and the implications of the results are discussed.

Anthropometric indicators height for age, weight for age, and weight for height, calculated from the data of the children’s height, weight, and age are transformed to Z-scores in order to assess nutritional status of under-five children. Following World Health Organization (WHO) classification scheme, the degree of prevalence in a population is defined as the percentage of subjects whose Z-scores are lying more than two standard deviations below the reference median. Although this formulation facilitates a gross comparison among sub-populations under question, two of its shortcomings are noteworthy. First, it fails to capture the salient distributional aspects of sample Z-scores different from those of the reference population and thereby the nutritional status estimates may be significantly biased. Second, empirical evidences suggest that the distribution under question can be skewed and substantially away from normal for the developing countries. The present article shows that for the selected states of India, distribution of Z-scores follows a general class of skew normal distribution, in which the reference population is a member and compares two and more members in this family. The degree of nutritional deficit is then quantified in terms of the population parameters. Empirical illustrations are given using data on Z-scores for selected Indian states (IIPS and Macro International 2007). The findings are indicative of the existence of comprehensive gaps in the perceived level of undernutrition prevalence for the selected Indian states.

Health expenditure in India has become an important policy variable so far as the concept of social sector development is concerned. The distributional aspect of such expenditure is again another important side of the overall development of a country or state. The present paper tries to examine whether the major states of India are converging in terms of per capita health expenditure out of the state-wise capital expenditure provided by the central government in the head of medical and public health for the period 1990–1991 to 2009–2010. If they are found to be converging, then the study further explores on whether there is falling tendency of the dispersion and inequality of health expenditure across the states. Using the data of Reserve Bank of India on Capital Expenditure of different states and Barro and Sala-i-Martin (1992) method of convergence, the study reveals that there is absolute β convergence and σ results show the tendency of divergence among the states. The health expenditure concentration and inequality has been quantified by Gini coefficient and Theil index which show that there is rising inequality up to 2003–2004 and then the phase towards equality starts.

Health is an important dimension of social upliftment. In the usual discourse of health, all focus seems to be on the achievements side. It reports on the improvement of life expectancy of reduction of infant mortality, increase of public hygiene and so on and so forth. The government is usually inclined to project this as its arena of achievement. NGOs and other bodies are also interested in the positive story of expanding health facilities to the common populace. Unfortunately, this approach does a serious injustice to those who are outside this hallowed circle. The point is beautifully put forward by “Basu and Foster” (Econ J 108(451):1733–1749, 1998) in their study of isolated and proximate literacy. The plight of an illiterate person increases more if he/she lives in a family where everybody is illiterate. The opposite happens if some of its family members achieve literacy. A somewhat similar effect may be argued in the case of health. We have tried to construct Health Index that tries to capture this effect. We first provided a theoretical axiomatic structure for constructing this index. It is observed that the index satisfies some well behaved social utility function. We have then applied the index at the state level data for North-East India across two time points. Our aim is to understand the relative dynamics of our constructed index in the light of the state level data for North-East India. We hope the exercise will be fruitful for policy makers and researchers particularly those who are interested in the health of the poor.

The impact of socioeconomic inequality adversely affects children and as a consequence high proportion of infant and child deaths happen in childhood. Maternal deprivation and malnutrition immediately affect the health status of mother and subsequently that of the newborn, which may be borne by the children throughout their entire life span. The inequalities within different social groups create deprivation on various socioeconomic aspects in their lives. It is a fact that infants belonging to disadvantaged group are certainly at higher risk of mortality than those born in advantaged group. The present research focuses on how do these disparities differ from one northeastern state to another northeastern state of India. To measure inequality and disparity within different northeastern states of India, this study utilizes standard tools like concentration curve and indices which are constructed utilizing the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) data. The infant and under-five mortality data from this source are categorized under different quintiles of wealth index to observe the discrepancies in child mortality among different social groups. Following the findings, we can classify the northeastern states into different groups based on the level of inequality in infant and under-five mortality in those states. Highest inequality is observed in the states of Tripura, Manipur, and Meghalaya. On the other hand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh experience minimum level of inequality in child mortality among different socioeconomic groups. The states like Mizoram, Nagaland, and Assam are in between the above two extreme categories of states.

Like many low- and middle income countries, out-of-pocket payment (OOPP) is the most common healthcare financing mechanism in Bangladesh. Higher and unpredictable health payments can expose households to substantial financial risk along with, at their most extreme, can result in economic impoverishment. Health policy-makers have long been concerned with protecting people from the possibility that ill health will lead to catastrophic financial payments and subsequent impoverishment. This study intends to examine the factors that are mostly influencing out-of-pocket payments healthcare in Bangladesh. A total of 10,705 populations who spent for receiving any type of healthcare services were analyzed from Bangladesh Household Income and Expenditure Survey data, 2010. We used a multiple regression model for the determinants of OOPP using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) considering socio-economic, demographic, social financial security as well as health-related indicators. Adjusted findings showed that, household characteristics like unsafe water, unhygienic toilet and household belonging to urban community were significantly associated with OOP payments. The other significant factors were household income, age, sex, informal healthcare. Finding can help for the decision-makers by stating OOPP determinants, discussing the mechanism causing them and thus making them into account to adapt OOP relevant regulations which highlights the emphasis to develop financial protection mechanisms in Bangladesh. Government should consider enhancing resources of healthcare policy. Parallel to government, spending other prudent and sustainable risk-pooling mechanism can help reducing intensity of OOP payments.

This is a quantitative study conducted during June 2012 to March 2013. The objectives of the study were to review the policies related to essential medicines in India and to assess the availability and accessibility of essential medicines and healthcare in Primary Health Centres. Availability of life-saving medicines at the Primary Health Centres was studied by referring to Public Health Standard’s Guidelines regarding essential medicines. The study reflects on three important aspects—medicine availability, status of healthcare services and finally, households’ economic conditions and their expenditure on health. The study reveals that despite modified health system and holistic approach under National Rural Health Mission, there remains significant gaps in health service delivery in India. The primary data shows that some of the Reproductive and Child Health services were seriously lacking in all the PHCs. While laboratory test facility was satisfactorily available in all the centres, it was difficult for the PHCs to tackle frequent outbreak of epidemics every year with the limited resources. Lack of availability of essential medicines was a critical concern.

Climatic conditions play a crucial role in the transmission of malaria parasites. The aim of this study was to determine the association between meteorological conditions and cases of malaria and understand the district-wise prevalence of malaria in Meghalaya. The monthly total malaria cases and the monthly meteorological data (temperature and rainfall) were collected for the years 2011–2013. Multiple linear regressions were used to test the association between the Malaria Incidence Rate (MIR) and the monthly average temperature and monthly rainfall. All the data were entered and analyzed using the STATA 12 software. To study the prevalence of malaria in the different districts of Meghalaya, we calculated the District Malaria Prevalence Rate (DMPR) for all the districts and compared the data. The results from the data demonstrate that average temperature has a significant positive association (coeff. 0.2, p < 0.01), whereas rainfall indicates a significantly negative association with the incidence rate of malaria cases in Meghalaya, however, there is a relatively small negative effect that rainfall contributes to the rise in malaria cases (coeff. -0.0006, p < 0.01). This study shows that temperature plays a major role in the rise in the number of malaria cases in the state of Meghalaya, whereas rainfall shows a negative effect in increasing the malaria cases. The study also shows that there is a regional variation in the prevalence of malaria cases in Meghalaya.

Health-related physical fitness is dependent on both the lifestyle-related factors and genetics and is therefore an important indicator of the status of health. The environment has gradually changed to one which requires reduced physical activity and promotes an increasing sedentary lifestyle. As this trend continues, the overall importance of physical activity in promoting and maintaining adequate health is only now being realized. The objective of this chapter is to compare the health-related physical fitness among children aged 7–9 years attending municipal schools and international schools in Nasik city. Around 236 children attending international schools and 234 children from municipal schools, aged 7–9 years were selected by purposive sampling. Physical fitness tests measuring muscular strength and endurance, cardiorespiratory endurance, body composition and flexibility were conducted. Children from municipal schools reflected lower mean height, weight, and BMI. Municipal school children had larger mean muscular strength and endurance (21.52 sit ups). Many of the children from the international school completed the one-mile run test but those from municipal school completed the test in lesser time (10.66 min). Municipal school children were more flexible (13.37 inch). They also had lower waist-to-height ratio (0.40) as compared to the international school children (0.46). Physical activity was considered a key factor for healthy physical and mental development of children. The municipal school children being more physically active had better physical fitness and hence were at a lesser risk of developing lifestyle-related disorders.

The purpose of the present study is to capture the efficiencies (inefficiencies) of the existing healthcare system of the Bengal Dooars. To measure such efficiencies (inefficiencies) the study considers the issues related with Primary Health Centres (PHCs). The services rendered by the PHCs are considered as space of service delivery and to measure the issues of efficiencies (inefficiencies) there may be differences between potential service delivered and actual service delivered. Actual service rendered by the PHCs can be measured by their performance, but the potential services rendered means what they can deliver if the resources are used optimally. Technical efficiency in terms of inputs can be a way-out to measure such efficiencies (inefficiencies). The study considers the efficiencies (inefficiencies) of the existing PHCs in one hand, simultaneously the geographical region of this study are categorized into different groups in terms of principal component analysis of villages/blocks physical location data. The study further juxtaposes the conditions of PHCs (basically the values of technical efficiencies) and the blocks/villages physical location data in a matrix. From such matrix, the study concluded with a comment that in which particular vulnerable block (lacking different facilities) the existing PHCs are performing efficiently and vice versa. Such output documents can be used by the policymakers to identify those necessary gaps and they will take necessary improvement-based measures.

Morbidity is a persistent condition of ill health that prohibits individuals from performing their daily activities. Therefore, measures of morbidity reflect the general conditions of health in the population. At the all India level, morbidity studies have been carried out based on large sample surveys of the NSSO and by other independent organizations at the state level; however, there is a dearth of field-based studies in the rural areas of India, specifically from the northeastern region. This case study examines the extent of morbidity, factors affecting morbidity, as well as the extent of utilization of healthcare services in one of the villages of Nagaon district of Assam. The study is based on a household survey conducted in 2014 in Bamunipathar village of Nagaon district. Based on a census enumeration of the entire village, a random sample of 40% of the households was chosen. The morbidity prevalence rate is found higher among males than females. However, cases of untreated morbidity are higher among females. Regression analysis shows that morbidity increases with increase in age of an individual. Low levels of literacy and non-availability of toilet facilities pose as risk factors to morbid conditions. Households having access to safe drinking water showed a negative causal relationship with morbidity. This case study places special focus on women and elderly people as who should be receiving increased health attention.

This study sheds light on the pattern and trend of chronic diseases among the elderly over time using three sources of data—NSSO 60th round (2004), WHO-SAGE (WHO SAGE Survey Manual: The WHO Study on Global AGEing and Adult Health (SAGE). Geneva, World Health Organization. 2006) and LASI (Longitudinal Aging Study in India, Pilot Wave. Harvard School of Public Health, International Institute of Population Sciences, Mumbai, India, and RAND Corporation. 2011). Based on ICD-10, the diseases are been classified into three categories—communicable diseases, non-communicable diseases and other diseases and disabilities. Trends in prevalence of diseases under these three broad classifications by sex, age groups and residence are estimated and analyzed. A decomposition method has been used, to check the significant difference in the gender gaps in the prevalence of morbidity. Non-communicable and other diseases and disabilities are found to have increase over time regardless of background characteristics of individuals, whereas it is the reverse case for communicable diseases and the prevalence of diseases are higher among elderly females than the males. The gender differentials in prevalence of diseases are found to be statistically significant. The concluding message of the study is that morbidities among the elderly are expected to escalate in future.

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.