Health to poverty: Tribals scrape bottom of barrel

Health to poverty: Tribals scrape bottom of barrel

News:

1. The Expert Committee shows concern over Tribal health in its report.

Important Facts:

2. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Tribal Development appointed an expert committee in 2013 to make a comprehensive report on Tribal health.
3. Report shows that tribal populations in the country were lagging on almost every health parameter.
4. Major findings of the committee report are:

• Tribal in India lives three years less than non-Tribal population.
• Have higher malnutrition
• Very limited access to health care services.
• Significantly lower immunization coverage,
• Substantially higher low-birth-weight children, and were much more susceptible to communicable diseases like malaria, tuberculosis and leprosy.
• Tribal account for 30 % of total malaria cases and 50 % death in India.
• Urban diseases like hypertension, cancer and diabetes was widespread in tribal populations.

5. Indicators leading to tribal health issue

• Only 10.7 per cent of the tribal population had access to tap water compared to 28.5 percent of non-tribal groups,
• While three out of four tribal people (74.7 percent) continue to defecate in the open.
• Overall, 40.6 percent of the ST population lived below the poverty line compared to 20.5 percent of non-tribal population.

6. Report has also identified ten “special health problems” that affect tribal populations disproportionately such as

• Malaria control, malnutrition, infant mortality, family planning, maternal health, de-addiction and health literacy.

7. According to the National Family Health Survey (2015-16) the infant mortality rate amongst tribal populations 44.4 per 1000 live births, significantly higher than the national average of 34.
8. Lancet study in 2016 shows the life expectancy of Tribal was 63.9 years while it was 67 years for non-tribal.
9. Tribal communities living in the north-eastern region was found to be more prone to non-communicable disease such as HIV, Cancer, Mental etc. than those in other parts of the country.