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An exploratory study on knowledge of tribal school going adolescents regarding basics of foods and nutrition

About 635 tribal groups and subgroups including 75 primitive tribes live in India. Various nutritional deficiency diseases, proportion of malnourished children, anemia are high among tribal children. The wide spread illiteracy and lack of awareness regarding foods and Nutrition in tribal communities are one of the important contributing factors for dismal health in tribal communities. Investing in education and training for adolescents and young people is perhaps the single most promising action to improve quality of life of tribal children. Documentation of the tribal school going adolescent’s knowledge on foods and nutrition is scanty. There is a need to assess the scope for reinforcing knowledge of basics of foods and nutrition through school curriculum. The present study was planned to know whether the tribal school going adolescents have a basic idea of foods and nutrition or not.All the tribal adolescent children (n= 158) studying in 8 to 12 standards from a Government Ashramshala were enrolled for the study. Knowledge regarding basics of Foods and nutrition was assessed using pretested questionnaire. Data on health and nutrition topics in their curriculum was also assessed. The study revealed that less than half of the boys and girls could correctly define food, importance of balanced diet and consequences of an inadequate diet. Knowledge regarding definition of balanced diet, concept of healthy food, anemia and dietary sources of Iron was poor. Thus strategies need to be developed for promoting awareness regarding basics of foods and nutrition through integrating it in school curriculum