Urban Poor of Visakhapatnam City : A Bio-Cultural Study on Physical Growth and Nutritional Status of The Adolescents

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About The Book

Slums are heterogeneous and multiethnic habitations, found in most of the cities in the third world countries. Several slum improvement projects are in progress or completed in the major cities of the developing countries mainly aimed at improvement of physical environment in the slums rather than changes in social or economic structure of the communities. In India, 52 million slum dwellers are found across the country and all of them live below poverty line. UNICEF-India started urban basic services programme in early 1976 mainly focusing on women and children in the slums. Slum improvement projects result in huge debts which indirectly affect the household budget, and health services. Another major effect of slum improvement projects are displacement of poor households by richer ones ultimately ending up in missing its target group.

Andhra Pradesh State ranks second position in slum population of the country. Indian government and UK aid from the Department for International Development (DFID) together invested huge sums of money for the benefit of slum dwellers in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam cities The future industrial activity of the city depends on children living in slums A comprehensive study growth pattern of such children may be useful for reorienting existing development programmes. For the present study, Visakahapatnam city was chosen, because the slums have grown from 40 in 1963 to 254 in 2001 and the slum population constitutes 22% of the total population of the city.

The book highlights growth patterns of adolescent children aged between 10-17 years and various aspects of slum dwellers such as housing, household size, assets, marital status, occupation, literacy, community and religion, age wise and sex distribution, source of income, drinking water, drainage and solid waste disposal methods, food, prevalence of alcoholism, health status and body build of adults. The book also deals with impact of socio-economic status on grow measurements.

The book will be very useful to Anthropologists, Policy makers, Health Planners and Social Scientists.

About the Author B.V.Raviprasad (b1959) is presently working as Research Associate (Physical) in the Anthropological Survey of India since June 1990 with first posting in Anthropological Survey of India, Andaman and Nicobar Regional Centre, Portblair (1990-1997). He did his M.Sc in Physical Anthropology from Sree Venkateswara University (1983), Tirupati and M.Phil in Anthropology from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (1988). He worked among the Nicobarese for his doctoral dissertation and obtained Ph.D in Anthropology from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam (1999). He worked as post- doctoral Fellow in Eccles Institute of Human Genetics, University of Utah, USA. Prior to joining the Survey Dr. Prasad worked as project assistant in several research projects undertaken by National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), New Delhi and Departmentof Anthropology. Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.

Dr. Prasad has to his credit more than 30 research articles in national and international journals of which a few articles on Nicobarese are extensively quoted. Anthropological Demography, Population Genetics and Applied Anthropology are his major areas of Interest. He is life member in Indian Society of Human Genetics and Anthropological Association, Mysore and Secretary of the Anthropological Association, Mysore, presently.

Introduction The term physical growth actually means cognizance of two terms viz, growth and development. In general sense, both these terms used interchangably and are considered complementary to each other (Helan, 1934).

Encyclopedia Americana (1958) cited 'physical growth comprises all the morphologic modifications that characterize the life span of an organism. The In quantitative terms, growth is the increase in living substance or protoplasm. Human growth, therefore, is defined as a process by which an individual attains maximum size until certain age in his genetic constitution in the environments.

The five broad stages of physical growth are 1) Pre-natal period, 2) Infancy, 3) Childhood, 4) Period of adulthood and 5) Senescence.

The present study relates to the adolescence growth period. According to Watson and Lowrey (1967) the approximate age of adolescence for boys 10 or 12 to 20 years and for girls it is 8 or 10 to 18 years.

Adolescence is a transitional period between childhood and adulthood, which is broadly divided into two stages, viz., early adolescence and late adolescence. The early adolescence is 13 years for girls and 14 years for boys. The period is marked by rapid physical growth and intellectual development mainly due to the influence of environmental factors. The late adolescence period includes from 16 to 17 years to the beginning of adult hood, when the child is characterized by a tapering of physical growth. The span of adolescent variability ranges from 8 to 19 years in girls and 10 to 23 in boys who demonstrate both physical and physiological changes and psychological development (Tanner, 1962). Shutte (1986) states that before the adolescence period, the rate of growth is fairly high and therefore requires adequate nutrition to provide energy.

Factors controlling growth

Human growth and development are influenced by endogenous and environmental factors. Growth spurt occurs between 12 and 13 years in height and weight in male children whereas it occurs during 10 and 11 years in female children. Social, emotional and intellectual development of children are largely governed by psychological factors such as love, tender care, which affects mental, social development and personality of the child. Physical surroundings such as sunshine, good housing, lighting and ventilation, occupation and economic status, lifestyle of parents influence the growth and development of children. Frequent out break of diarrhoea, measles and intestinal parasites delay growth and development particularly in malnourished children. Education of parents also plays an important role in growth and development of children.

**Contents and Sample Pages**