Childhood obesity a public health problem in the developing world: A study on India
Divya Balasubramaniam§
Saint Joseph’s University
Echu Liu¨
Sothern Illinois University
April 2013
Abstract
Although the determinants of malnutrition among young children in developing countries have been extensively studied, there is very little understanding of the prevalence of obesity, especially in urban regions of these economies. India presents a unique example of this problem: on the one hand, almost 50 percent of children under the age of five are characterized as “chronically malnourished” while on the other, a few recent studies find a high prevalence of obese and overweight school children in selected regions of India. This paper is based on the observation that the nutritional status among young children is a critical determinant of well-being of these children, and is an essential ingredient for a long-term growth prospects and healthy lifestyle during their lifetime.
The paper seeks to understand the determinants of obesity among school going children in India using the dataset of India Human Development Survey for the year 2005. This paper will contribute to the existing literature on obesity among children which focuses mainly on contemporaneous effects of various factors on the health outcome such as obesity among children. More studies on obesity in developing countries can help identify the causal effects of obesity and help identify the most cost-effective health interventions to prevent or contain the ongoing overweight and obesity problem in India.
Keywords: Child obesity, child height, child weight, India
JEL classification: I18, I15, I12, O12