Women Empowerment through Soya Milk Production and Consumption in Tribal Areas of East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh

Abstract

The health of women and children plays a significant key role in the national development and hence intrinsically linked as an important indicator to their status in the society. Health and nutrition programmes, innovative products and approaches for eradicating the mal-nutrition and improving the health status are essential elements and integrated efforts need to be strengthened for sustainable impact in the society. In order to evaluate the effect of Soya milk in improving the nutritional status of 09-13 years old malnourished Ashram school children and also to assess the economic empowerment of women, a study was conducted in tribal areas of East Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh. About 200 ashram school tribal children were selected as control group and 100 children of same age group from the same school were selected as experimental group to evaluate the mean weights, heights, Body mass Index (BMI) and haemoglobin. As a part of intervention, the soya milk @100ml per child was provided for 12 months in addition to the existing diet provided for the school children. A randomised parallel intervention study was carried out. The anthropometric measurements were analysed before and after the interventions by using t-test. The study shows drastic improvement in weight, height, BMI and haemoglobin levels of ashram school children after consumption of soya milk. The results suggest that the soya milk consumption improved the nutritional status of ashram school children significantly. The family income of the tribal SHG was improved significantly after introduction of soya milk unit as entrepreneurial activity, as a measure of economic development of the tribal women.