In a recent study published in ‘The Lancet Regional Health — Southeast Asia,’ researchers provide a detailed analysis of the health, nutrition, and population trends of Scheduled Tribes (STs) from 2016 to 2021. Drawing from the National Family Health Surveys from 2016 and 2021, the authors contend that even though there is a noticeable improvement in the health and welfare metrics of STs, there are persistent disparities between the metrics of ST and non-ST populations, which demand urgent and consistent policy efforts.
The 2011 Census recorded over 104 million STs spread across 705 recognised ethnic groups. Even with targeted policies in place, STs, who make up 8.6% of India’s population, face health and socioeconomic challenges. The study offers an overview of the performance metrics for STs, non-STs, and the overall population based on 129 parameters in 2021. It also highlights the contrast in the performance metrics of STs between 2016 and 2021, spotlighting areas of both progress and decline. In 2021, the non-ST population outperformed the ST population in 81 out of 129 indicators. STs continued to face challenges, particularly concerning women’s status and major public health issues such as child malnutrition, anaemia, insufficient vaccination coverage, and disparities in fertility and mortality rates. The 48 indicators on which STs surpassed non-STs include overall gender balance, gender balance at birth, use of family planning methods, consistent treatment during pregnancy, and adherence to recommended breastfeeding practices. Moreover, STs showed a reduced occurrence of diabetes and hypertension compared to non-STs.
The research divided the 129 indicators into 21 themes to evaluate the comparative performance of STs and non-STs in 2021.
The chart shows the number of indicators on which the STs outperformed the non-STs or vice versa. The circles labelled as ‘yes’ (blue) in the chart are indicators where STs outperformed non-STs and those labelled ‘no’ (red) indicate the opposite. All figures are in percentage
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Aside from the indicators focused on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in adults, STs are at a disadvantage in almost all categories. The study says that the areas where they face greater vulnerability need dedicated policy efforts. The mortality rate for children under five in the ST community was alarmingly high, with 50 out of every 1,000 children not reaching their fifth birthday. Additionally, child malnutrition was a pressing issue, as more than 40% of ST children under five were stunted, with a similar percentage being underweight. The study also highlights new challenges for STs. For instance, from 2016 to 2021, there was a significant rise in high blood pressure levels among ST men and women aged 15–49, with increases of 7.5% and 8.9%, respectively.
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Between 2016 and 2021, the ST population registered improvements in 83 of the selected 129 indicators (not visualised in the chart). During these years, STs experienced major improvements in access to improved sanitation facilities (an increase of 30.4 percentage points between 2015–2016 and 2019–2021). Similarly, more births were being attended to by skilled health personnel (an increase of 13 points) and full vaccination coverage among children aged 12–23 months (an increase of 18.6 points). The civil registration of births among STs also increased from 76% in 2016 to 88% in 2021.
The study contends that India’s progress on various policy metrics concerning population, health, and nutrition hinges on the ability of its marginalised groups, with the STs being a significant segment.
Source: Paper titled, “Population, health and nutrition profile of the Scheduled Tribes in India: a comparative perspective, 2016-2021”, published by The Lancet Regional Health- Southeast Asia. Authors: S.V. Subramanian and William Joe
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