@article{Yesmin_Baruah_2014, title={A comparative study on gender disparity in nutritional status in children under five years in rural and urban communities of Assam, India}, volume={26}, url={https://iapsmupuk.org/journal/index.php/IJCH/article/view/519}, abstractNote={<p><strong>Introduction:</strong> Under nutrition is a serious public health problem among children in the developing countries. Though the importance of girl child has been stressed time and again, yet a wide level of disparity still exists, whether implicit or explicit, in nutrition and child care both in the rural and urban areas.  Different underlying factors are responsible for this disparity. <strong>Rationale:</strong> Girls face discrimination from the moment she is born. The UNICEF intergenerational cycle of malnutrition stresses on the fact that the problem of malnutrition spans generation and is a vicious cycle. Though the importance of girl child has been stressed time and again, yet a wide level of disparity still exists. Therefore this study is conducted to document the gender disparity in nutritional status and compare rural and urban differences. Objective: 1.To compare the gender disparity in nutritional status in children aged 0-5 years in rural and urban areas.2.To assess the different socio-demographic factors influencing the gender disparity. Materials and Methods: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted in Kamrup Rural and Kamrup Urban using a pre-tested schedule from August 2013-July 2014.A total of 400 children were examined and their mother’s interviewed. Data was entered into MS-Excel spread sheets for analysis. The statistical analyses were done using SPSS version 16 software. Percentages and Chi square tests were used to analyze epidemiological variables. <strong>Results:</strong> The prevalence of underweight, stunting and wasting in rural area was 31%, 29%, 15.5% respectively whereas in urban it was 39.5%, 36% and 24.5% respectively. In rural area, male child were 32% underweight, 28% stunted and 19% wasted compared to female who were 30% underweight, 30% stunted and 12% wasted. In urban area 48% of female child were underweight, 39% stunted and 27% wasted compared to 31%, 33% and 22% in male child respectively. A significant higher proportion of underweight was found in girls belonging to Muslim religion, OBC category, nuclear family, illiterate unemployed mother and low income. <strong>Conclusion:</strong> The girl child suffers from malnutrition more in the urban areas than rural area</p>}, number={Supp 2}, journal={Indian Journal of Community Health}, author={Yesmin, Farha and Baruah, Rupali}, year={2014}, month={Dec.}, pages={353–358} }