Report of the study to understand the Health Status and Healthcare SystemsIn selected tribal areas of IndiaJune 2010BySwami Viveananda !outh "ovementSara#urContentsNo Topic Page no.1 Executive Summary2 Goals and Objectives !et"odology# !aterials and !et"ods$ %indings and &iscussion' (ey %indings) *ecommendations+ ,onclusion- .c/no0ledgementsExecutive Summary1$ Introduction%India is home to 84.33 million people classified as Scheduled Tribes (ST), corresponding to 8.2% of the totalpopulation. There are 4! groups of tribes "hoare spread o#er 2 states and $nion Territories. Included inthesecategories are%4tribes "hoha#ebeenidentifiedas &'rimiti#eTribal (roups) ('T(, no"called'articularl*#ulnerable(roup) characteri+edb*preagricultural le#el of technolog*, e,tremel*lo"le#el ofliterac* and e,tremepo#ert*. Ingeneral,theScheduledtribes(ST) li#einisolated,scattered anddifficulttoreach terrain generall* near hills and shrin-ing forests on "hich the* depend for their li#elihood. .espite rapid strides in the field of diagnostics and therapeutics, ade/uate health care has not been reachingthem e#en after the completion of the tenth fi#e *ear plan.There is a consensus among #arious go#ernmentalprograms to pa* specialattention to the marginali+ed Scheduled tribe population, though, the actualstate ofhealth and health care in ST areas has not been ade/uatel* documented.Though there is data a#ailable forrural and urban areas, data for S& areas is very scanty$ This stud* "as born out of this urgent and felt need inthe health sector to stud* comprehensi#el* and s*stematicall* the health situation of the scheduled tribes in thecountr* so that recommendations to strengthen the programmes of 0123 and impro#e the situation could beformulated.It "as conducted b* Swami Viveananda !outh "ovement (S453) a de#elopment organi+ationfounded in the *ear !684, engaged in building a ne" ci#il societ* in India through its grassroots action in 2ealth,7ducation and 8ommunit* de#elopment sectors. 9#er the past t"o decades it has been addressing the #ariousde#elopmentalissues of the marginali+ed scheduled tribe and ruralpopulation of 2...:ote Talu-, one of themost bac-"ard ST dominated talu-s of 3*sore .istrict, :arnata-a.This stud* "as conducted bet"een !;th har-hand, 3adh*a 'radesh, 9rissa, 3aharashtra and :arnata-a) "hich are home for 4%% ofthe Schedule Tribes of the countr*.har-hand, 3adh*a 'radesh @ 9rissa), "hile t"o fall under the non high?focus large group (3aharashtra@ :arnata-a). It "as supported b* (o#ernment of India and Aorld 2ealth 9rganisation.2$ 'oal%To impro#e the health status of the 84.33 million Schedule tribe population in India and bring it on a par "ith thenational a#erage, b* suggesting "a*s to impro#e the health care deli#er* through 0ational 1ural 2ealth 3ission(0123) programs.($ )b*ectives%!. To stud* the health status of representati#e samples of schedule tribe population li#ing across the countr*.2. Tostud*thee,istinghealthcaredeli#er*s*stemandmechanisminthechosenSTareasb*e#ol#ingappropriate sur#e* instruments. 3. To identif* both the positi#e aspects and the lacunae in the health care.4. To gi#e recommendations to strengthen the health care mechanism of the 0123 strateg* in ST areas.The stud* has t"o main components, namel*, a des- re#ie" of the rele#ant national le#el documents and a fieldre#ie" based on inter#ie"s "ith both the pro#iders of health care and the beneficiaries to understand the dataobtained from the des- re#ie". +$ ,ey -indin#s%The-e*areasthat "erestudiedtounderstandthe2ealthStatusand2ealth caredeli#er*s*stemandmechanism "ere !. $nder Bi#e 8hild health, 2.3aternal health,3.