Assessment of malnutrition and its underlying causes among vulnerable populations dwelling in the urban slums of Nongstoin Town, Meghalaya

Introduction Malnutrition in the vulnerable groups of children and pregnant women was observed to be one of the major factors for child and maternal mortality. The study aimed at evaluating the nutritional status as well as underlying causes of malnutrition among children and pregnant women living in urban slums of Nongstoin Town, West Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study design with time bound enumeration was conducted in the urban slum of Nongstoin among 420 under five children and 88 pregnant women from June–August 2018 using a semi-structured questionnaire quantifying the study objectives and standard assessment tools. The collected data was entered and analysed using SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) version 16. Results Out of 420 participants 238(56.67%) children found severely malnourished and remaining 182(43.33%) of children were not in good health, most of them were found to have border line malnutrition and 49(55.68%) pregnant women were found to be moderate anaemic (Hb level:6–9 mg/dl) and 3(3.4%) pregnant women found to be having normal haemoglobin level (Hb > 12 mg/dl). Conclusion Poor health hygiene, inadequate sanitation and unsafe drinking water facilities were found to be the underlying causes of Malnutrition. Most of the children and pregnant women in the study were poor in nutritional status. There is an urgent need for developing a program such as skills-based nutrition education and healthy eating habit.