# Trends, Predictors, and Consequences of Child Undernutrition

> **NIH NIH F30** · UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER · 2020 · $38,481

## Abstract

RR-7: ABSTRACT
One out of every three children under the age of five in India are undernourished (48 million). To address
this crisis, Indian government established a National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) program in 2005, which
improved healthcare and nutritional services. Unfortunately, this efforts which spanned from 2005 to 2012 have
yielded minimal improvement. Persistent child undernutrition limits growth, productivity, quality of life, and life
expectancy of Indians. In other words, Indian children are unable to realize their full potential due to
undernutrition.
 Our current understanding of child undernutrition in India is 1) outdated because most of the analyses
uses data from 2005, before the implementation of NRHM program, 2) contradictory because investigations of
predictors of child undernutrition in India with improper methodologies has produced inconsistent findings despite
using the same data source), and 3) lacking because no national level study has assessed the consequences
of child undernutrition.
 Therefore, this study will apply advanced geospatial and multilevel methods on publicly available
nationally representative data from NICHD-funded India Human Development Survey (IHDS) series to fill these
critical knowledge-gaps. The first of the two IHDS surveys was conducted in 2005 (IHDS-I) before the
implementation of NRHM and surveyed 24,314 children aged five or less from 41,554 households. IHDS-II was
conducted in 2012 and surveyed 42,152 households, including 34,621 that were surveyed in 2005, and collected
information on 20,810 children under the age of five and 26,559 pre-adolescents. We will use this unique data
source, the largest panel dataset on child undernutrition in India to investigate: Aim 1) the trends of child
undernutrition in India from 2005 to 2012 in relation to NRHM, Aim 2) individual, household, and community
level predictors of child undernutrition, and Aim 3) consequences of undernutrition in the first five years of life
on development during pre-adolescent (8-11) years within the Indian socio-cultural context.
 Our investigation will define the heterogeneity in the burden of child undernutrition and its association with a
variety of predictors across different regions of India. Moreover, it will elucidate the magnitude of its
consequences on child development within the Indian context. Thus, this study will establish a foundation for
addressing this humanitarian and economic crisis by identifying effective entry points for existing intervention.
This proposal will also position me to take the next step towards my career goal of reducing health disparities
among children through clinical practice in underserved regions, community-based research, and
evidence-based advocacy. To accomplish the study aims and prepare me for my career, this research proposal
is paired with a carefully curated training plan that includes specific graduate-level courses and individualized
mentorship experiences with a team of ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10007642
- **Project number:** 5F30HD091975-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIV OF MASSACHUSETTS MED SCH WORCESTER
- **Principal Investigator:** Apurv Soni
- **Activity code:** F30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $38,481
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-22 → 2021-06-06

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10007642

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10007642, Trends, Predictors, and Consequences of Child Undernutrition (5F30HD091975-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10007642. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*