Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tribal Women and Issues of Health in Assam

Health is one of the key ingredients of human development. United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) considers health as one of the components of Human Development Index (HDI) along with education and income generating capacity. Health security is a challenging issue worldwide as million die due to poor health conditions and basic health care facilities. The Indian scene is not exceptional in this respect. The scene is very gloomy in case of tribal communities of India. They are in a very disadvantageous position regarding this aspect. Since it is related with development of human beings, it is pertinent to add that health problems have been one of the challenges faced by the people of North East India basically the tribal women of Assam. Several reasons may be identified behind those problems which include first of all habitat, illiteracy, ignorance, then lack of consciousness, the parameters of cultural ethos, at some point of time tradition, etc. Whatever the reasons, it is women who are always associated with health related issues and problems like high mortality rate, low life expectancy, malnutrition, sexually transmitted diseases, extra pressure of child bearing, lack of safe drinking water, lack of proper sanitary facilities, etc. The proper steps by policy stakeholders are significant in this regard.
                   
                                   By Sasanka Dhaval Saikia

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