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een found that in some parts of the country, girls were breast fed for a shorter period
(Ghosh.1986). Energy, protein, vitamin A and iron intake was also less ~n girls than
boys (UNICEF,1990). The nutritional inadequacy usually resulted in a hlgher
percentage of malnutrition and other nutritional disorders in girls as compared to boys
(Ghosh,1992; Thomas.1992; Khad~ et a1.,1996). However, the nutritional bias was not
uniform auoss the country. It is greater in the North than in South India (Ghosh,l986,
Subrahmanyam and Rao.1995)
This is also supported by the fact that most of the
stud~es reporting dietary dlsuimlnation have been from the North (Ghosh,l992,
Thornas,1992). Studies from Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh) and Salem (Tam11 Nadu)
have shown that the dietary intake of girls and boys were simllar (Brahman el a1.,1988,
Samantaray and Jena,1995). Other investigators have observed equal or even better
energy intake in girls as compared to boys (Rao, 1989). In the current study, school
age children consumed inadequate nutrients. This nutribonal Inadequacy was uniformly
observed ~n both the genders by d~etary survey and nonparticipant observat~on. There
was no s~gn~ficant difference in the proportion of girls (54.5%) and boys (60.2%) who
were malnourished. Thus both dietary survey as well as nutritional status of children dld
not polnt to any dietary discrimination against girls in this study. This reflects a relatively
hlgher social status of the girl child in this part of the country, when compared to other
localities.
7.5.3 Health care and the girl child
Health care glven to a child could be both preventive and curatlve
The preventive
health care includes immunization against common infectious diseases. In different
states In lnd~a, the immunization coverage is not uniform in glrls and boys. Stud~es In
Blhar and tribal areas of Maharashtra showed a slightly higher immunization coverage