For the past three decades, India has implemented several nutrition programmes to address malnutrition in the under-fives. To understand the programme’s impact, this study assesses the prevalence of acute malnutrition, moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) and severe acute malnutrition (SAM), using mid-upper arm circumference (MUAC) among tribal children.

The survey was conducted in two tribal blocks (Desaiganj and Bhamragad) of the Gadchiroli district in Maharashtra to identify children registered in the ‘Anganwadi’ program.

A community-based cross-sectional survey was carried out.

The total sample size was 1055 children (aged 0–59 months).

The overall prevalence of SAM and MAM was 1·4 % (n 15) and 9·8 % (n 103). A higher prevalence of MAM was found in males (38·5 %, n 40) and females (27·1 %, n 28) in below 6 months. Additionally, a higher prevalence of MAM was observed in females (10·7 %, n 113) compared with males (9·0 %, n 95). The prevalence of SAM was significantly (P < 0·001) higher in females (1·7 %, n 18) than in males (1·0 %, n 11). Children aged between 12 and 17 months were sixteen times more likely (OR = 16·9, P < 0·001, CI = 4·8, 59·6) to have MAM (MUAC < 12·5 cm) than children aged between 6 and 11 months. Children from the Desaiganj block were significantly less likely (OR = 0·4, P < 0·001, CI = 0·2, 0·7) to have MAM compared with children from Bhamragad. Approximately 4 % (n 42) of children were classified as critically malnourished.

There is an urgent need for block-level monitoring of MAM and SAM, as well as evaluation of existing nutrition programmes, to address the disparity in the sex-specific prevalence of MAM and SAM in tribal areas.