Indian J Med Res
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Mizoram, a northeastern State of India bordering Myanmar, is home to several tribal clans under the ethnic group Mizo: Renthelei, Ralte, Paite, Lai, Hmar, Lusei, Mara, Thado and Kuki. Mizos also reside in the neighbouring northeastern States of Tripura, Assam, Manipur and Nagaland. The majority of Mizo people outside India live across the border in the neighbouring Chin State and Sagaing Region of Myanmar. Over the last decade, Mizoram witnessed a concerning level of rise in HIV prevalence among the general population. The present rapid review was conducted to identify various interventions that could help curb this rising trend. ⋯ This review underscores the importance of drawing upon successful intervention examples from the past such as 'Friends on Friday' and Red Ribbon Clubs. Active engagement of community-based organizations in programme planning, implementation and monitoring is essential. Establishment of harm reduction interventions for general and key populations paired with strategic communication appear to be the need of the hour.
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Review
Epidemiological scenario of leprosy in marginalized communities of India: Focus on scheduled tribes.
The Scheduled Tribes (STs) are designated among the most disadvantaged social groups in India. Until the year 2005 (pre-elimination era of leprosy in India), several leprosy-specific control field programmes were implemented, which have been discontinued subsequently. Since then, leprosy diagnosis and treatment have been integrated with General Health Services. ⋯ This shows the need to further explore the current situation of leprosy in STs so that suitable interventions can address the contributing factors, leading to health inequalities in disadvantaged socio-economic groups. Therefore, this review aims to present the current distribution of leprosy in marginalized communities with a special emphasis on STs. Further, this review discusses how resources might be mobilized for such communities to find and treat undetected leprosy patients in STs to enable effective control of leprosy through early detection and timely treatment.
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In the current health system, cash incentives are given to accredited social health activists for referring women to public health facilities for specific maternal and child health services, however many reproductive health problems are not included in these services. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of involvement of self-help groups (SHGs) in improving reproductive health seeking behaviour and service utilization by tribal women. ⋯ This study demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing the potential of SHGs for improving reproductive health seeking behaviour of the tribal women. The results suggest that this model could be scaled up to address the neglected reproductive health needs of women without burdening the existing human resources.
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India is home to the largest population of indigenous tribes in the world. Despite initiative of the National Rural Health Mission, now National Health Mission (NHM) and various tribal development programmes since India's Independence, disparity in healthcare for Scheduled Tribes (STs) prevails. The constitution of Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees (VHSNCs) in 2007 by the NHM is a step towards decentralized planning and community engagement to improve health, nutrition and sanitation services. ⋯ Therefore, this review was conducted to assess the participation of the VHSNCs in tribal dominated States in order to know in detail about their functioning and gaps if any that require intervention. Several deviations from the existing guidelines of NHM were identified and we concluded that in order to sustain and perform well, VHSNCs not only require, mobilization and strict monitoring but also motivation and willingness of its members to bring in a radical change at the grassroot level. With continuous supervision and support from both the Government and various non-governmental organizations, handholding, strategic deployment of workforce, community participation and sustained financial support, VHSNCs would be able to facilitate delivery of better healthcare to the indigenous population.
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Comment Review
Health status of tribes of Uttar Pradesh with special reference to health-seeking behaviour of uncharted Tharu tribe: A mapping review.
The tribal population in India is considered as one of the vulnerable groups with respect to their achievements in health and other developmental issues. In this context, this mapping review attempted to understand the health profile of the Tharu tribal community residing in the northern State of Uttar Pradesh, India through literature mining. Tharu tribe is one of the indigenous groups living in the Terai plain on the Indo-Nepal border. In 1967, this tribe was documented as a Scheduled Tribe by the Government of India. The present review aimed to map the health-seeking behaviour of the Tharu population and review other factors pertaining to their health such as socioeconomic, developmental, employment, education, etc. ⋯ This mapping review highights the health seeking behaviour of the Tharu tribe in India that can help inform future interventions to improve the health status of the Tharu tribe as well as other aspects of their development.