Background: Under nutrition is a global public health problem that causes premature morbidity and ill-health conditions and has along-lasting physiological effects in children. The present study assesses the prevalence of wasting [low Weight for Height (W/H)] among children and to determine the association of wasting with different socio-economic and socio-demographic variables. Methods: The present cross-sectional study was conducted among 308 children (boys: 162; girls: 146), aged 0-6 and 7-14 years, in South Kashmir, J&K; using stratified random sampling technique. The Weight for Height measured using the standard anthropometric procedure. Low Weight-forHeight was assessed by comparing with a standard age-sex-specific reference population of WHO, 2010. Children whose W/H value was found to be the z-scores 0.05). The logistic regression analysis observed that age, gender, birth order, area (rural), maternal education, household income and mothers' age were significantly associated with the prevalence of wasting (p<0.05) Conclusion: Using Weight-for-Height, a high prevalence of wasting was observed among the children. Birth order, maternal education and maternal occupation were important determinants of wasting. There is an urgent requirement of nutritional intervention programmes to ameliorate the nutritional status of the children.
