Abstract: Nutritional status of Hijras in West Bengal has not been investigated adequately. The present study was undertaken to determine the prevalence of overweight, obesity, and thinness in Hijras of Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal, India. The nutritional status of Hijras in Paschim Medinipur is risk full. Appropriate measures should be taken by the respective authorities and Government to improve their health and nutritional status. A cross-sectional, observational, study was carried out among 114 Hijras aged 17-78 years studying in Survey Questionnaire. The nutritional status has been assessed with the help of some anthropometric indices. Height and weight were measured and BMI was computed following standard formula. SPSS 20.0 was used for analysis of data. The mean nutritional indices were found to be much critical among the Hijras. The overall prevalence rates of overweight, obesity, and thinness were 32.45 percent, 15.79 percent, and 16.67 percent respectively. The present study shows that obesity constituted major health problems whereas the nutritional status among the Hijras is very poor with a high rate of nutritional risks. The older portion among them was experiencing the highest prevalence of nutritional stress respectively. In addition, there was also an emerging trend for overweight/obesity; hence, the special emphases are needed to formulate various developmental and healthcare programmes for Hijra communities to prevent adiposity.
Keywords: Body mass index, Hijra, Nutritional status, Obesity, Overweight, Transgender.
Title: Assessment of Nutritional Status of Hijras: A Study of Paschim Medinipur District, West Bengal, India
Author: Sibsankar Mal, Partha Sarathi Das
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations
ISSN 2348-1218 (print), ISSN 2348-1226 (online)
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