By: IRSHAD KHAN, SOURABH DWIVEDI
The lifestyles, environments, and socio-cultural customs and traditions of India’s tribal people vary widely since they live in such diverse environments. Nearly 42 ST tribes call Chhattisgarh their home, and of those, five are classified as Primitive Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs): the Kamar, Abhujmariya, Birhor, Baiga, and Hill Korwa. The tribal people were vulnerable from a health and nutrition standpoint due to a number of reasons, including insufficient household food security, inadequate access to health services, traditional beliefs, economic constraints, and inadequate care of women and children. The current study examines nutrition and reproductive health in the Hill Korwa of Chhattisgarh’s Surguja district.10 anganwadi facilities were surveyed, and 150 households were included in the study. Only 19.33% of pregnant women were registered for ANC before the 16th week of pregnancy, according to the study. Only 5.26% of pregnant women gave birth in government hospitals, while 25.43% of home births employed disposable delivery kits (DDK). About 76.31% of the mothers started breastfeeding within 24 hours of giving birth, while 7.89% did so on day two and the rest did it on day three or later. A little over 14.03% of the moms claimed that they dumped the colostrums mostly on the recommendation of their elders. The percentage of children who had received vaccinations was roughly 92.91%, with 15.51% of them being fully immunized and 82.76% being just partially inoculated.
