Improving Health Services for Schedule Tribe Community in India: A Study

Over 84 million of India’s people belong to Scheduled Tribes. While tribal populations make up only 8 percent of India’s population, they account for over a quarter of the country’s poorest people. Although these groups have seen considerable progress over the years-poverty among tribal groups declined by more than a third between 1983 and 2005 - nearly half the country’s Scheduled Tribe population remains in poverty, due to their low starting point. Rajasthan has the largest population of Scheduled Tribes in the country, constituting over 12 percent of the state’s population. They are concentrated in the southern tribal and western desert regions of the state. Young tribal girls enter the reproductive age as victims of undernourishment and anaemia, and face greater health risks as a result of early marriage, frequent pregnancies, unsafe deliveries, and sexually transmitted diseases. Women’s low social status makes them more likely to seek treatment only when the ailment is well advanced. Societal attitudes towards pregnancy, which is generally not considered a condition that requires medical treatment, nourishment or care, hinder efforts to deliver antenatal services.