Dynamics of Changing Nutritional Status of Children in Andhra Pradesh. Young Lives Working Paper No. 113

This paper by Young Lives examines the dynamics of nutritional status of children in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India in the years of 2002, 2006 and 2009 based on a sample of a cohort of 2000 children born in the year 2001-02. It observes whether a child who was malnourished (in terms of stunting, wasting and underweight) during early childhood (infancy) switches to a healthy status (catches-up) as he grows up, or whether a child who was not malnourished during early childhood grows up to be a malnourished (falters). Results suggest persistence in the nutritional status of children over the data points. The analysis is done separately for region, ethnic group, religion, location, wealth quartile and gender using nutrition mobility matrices.