Social discrimination key factor in stunting among children, study shows

Caste practices and other kinds of social exclusion reduce communities' access to maternal and child health, leading to more cases of stunting, says a new study

Vulnerable to social discrimination, children from Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Muslim families are more likely to experience stunting--a condition where the body height is less than the accepted range at a given age--says a new study. Even socio-economic advantages do not not change the correlation between stunting and exclusion.

'The Missing Piece of the Puzzle: Caste Discrimination and Stunting', a July 2021 study by Ashwini Deshpande of Ashoka University's Center for Economic Data and Analysis (CEDA) and Rajesh Ramachandran of the University of Heidelberg, was aimed at understanding the impact of caste and socio-economic factors on stunting among