Lifestyle diseases among top killers in tribal districts: ICMR

Source: The post is based on the article “Lifestyle diseases among top killers in tribal districts: ICMR” published in The Hindu on 24th November.

What is the News?

A survey carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has found that lifestyle diseases are among the top killers in tribal districts.

What are the key findings of the survey conducted by ICMR?

Deaths due to Non-communicable diseases(NCDs) in Tribals: ICMR has conducted a survey in 12 tribal districts of India. It has revealed that non-communicable diseases(NCDs) were causing 66% of deaths in these areas.

It is comparable to the percentage of deaths being caused due to NCDs — mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes — in non-tribal districts (approximately 63%).

After NCDs, infectious diseases (15%) and injuries (11%) caused the maximum number of deaths according to the ICMR survey.

Lack of Health Infrastructure: The majority of tribals (70%) in the districts surveyed died at home. This reflected the lack of awareness about health problems as well as an acute shortage of healthcare infrastructure in tribal districts of the country.

What is the significance of this survey?

Firstly, this survey has broken the myth that tribal people aren’t as affected by the NCDs often referred to as lifestyle diseases.

Secondly, it is also clear from the survey that many tribal people die at home, which could be due to reduced health-seeking behaviour or the very lack of doctors or hospitals in the region.