Assessment of rural women’s attitude towards nutrition, health and hygiene under Nutri Smart Village Programme in Dharwad

Abstract

Rural women are key agents for achieving the transformational economic, environmental, and social changes required for sustainable development. Empowering them with nutritional knowledge and community health is the key to the well-being of individuals and families and to enhancing the nutritional status of rural communities. With this background, the present study was undertaken to assess the attitude of rural women towards nutrition, health, and hygiene in order to identify the gaps and design suitable, effective interventions. The present investigation was carried out in Dharwad district of Karnataka State during 2021–22. A total of 500 rural farmwomen were interviewed from five villages: Belur, Dubbadmaradi, Kalakeri, Kumbarkoppa, and Kogilgeri. The research design used was “ex-post facto”. A self-structured questionnaire with an interview method was used to collect the data. The results revealed that the majority of respondents belonged to lower middle socioeconomic status, followed by upper middle class. The attitude of the majority of rural women towards nutrition, health, and hygiene was low (64.20%), followed by an uncertain attitude (32.40%). The independent variables, viz., age, education, occupation, and socioeconomic status, had an influence on the attitude of the rural women. Hence, nutrition intervention strategies, including the promotion of nutri-smart gardens and farming, organising training programmes, health campaigns, capacity-building programmes, and literacy programmes on nutrition, health, and hygiene, can be planned and executed.