Socio-structural Determinants and Health Seeking Behaviour of the Mankirdia Tribe of Odisha: An Ethnographic Study (SDHSBMTO) Alok Patra 1 , Kalu Naik 2 , Udayanath Sahoo 3 and Satwik Patnaik 4 KIIT Deemed University Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India E-mail: 1 <alokcuo@gmail.com> National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research, New Delhi, India E-mail: 2 <k.naikiitg@gmail.com> Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India E-mail: : 3 <udayanath@mail.jnu.ac.in> E-mail: 4 <satwikpatnaik8@gmail.com> KEYWORDS Abysmal. Backwardness. Cultural Tradition. Dimension. Education ABSTRACT The paper attempts to study the role of the Mankirdia tribe’s socio-structural determinants and its influence on their health-seeking behaviour. The extensive ethnographic method has been used to collect relevant and in-depth information from the study community. The paper conclusively finds that social structures have impacted the health-seeking behaviour of the community at large. It also finds the inter-connection among the larger structural elements of the tribal society, such as socio-political, and economic structures with health-seeking behaviour and the disease burden of the Mankirdia. It has suggested stringent policy measures for qualitatively improving the health status of Mankirdia tribe, and also existing social determinants or structural aspects needs to be strengthened. In addition, traditional healthcare practices need to be reinforced, especially an indigenous healer’s knowledge with existing biomedical health services. INTRODUCTION Social structure is about patterns of relations (Martin and Lee 2011).The perception of social structure is one of the central ideas in social science. It denotes to social forces and path- ways, which are external, relatively independent from and more than the summation of the indi- viduals (Leyton 2014). In the most general sense, the idea of social structure is composed of pat- terns of institutionalised relationships, social institutions and social network that connect us and in the interaction that fill everyday lives (David and Orenstein 2007; Ashley 2019). The relationship between social structure and health-seeking behaviour is closely con- nected, and it locates health in society with close integration with its institutions, norms, social categories, and processes (Mishra 2017). Sid- dique et al. (2016) have highlighted the signifi- cant role of social structure or socio-economic status of Fatkhichri of Chittagong rural people and its impact on their health-seeking behav- iour. Major social determinants or social struc- tures were mentioned that affected their deci- sion-making choices, that is, socio-demography, education, knowledge and perception towards healthcare. Health and disease are the two striking di- mensions of an individual’s behaviour. Every individual once faces an issue of disease in their lifetime. Many social determinants influence the health status of individuals, and these are social status, caste, and education. It can also influ- ence the existing environment, local hospitals, the behaviour of the doctors, and access to tech- nologies. Besides, the health-seeking behaviour is also attached to internal dynamics that is fam- ily health culture and geography. The choices of the local people are not confined to a certain medical system but rather believe in a plurality of health services (Nanjunda 2014). Srinivas et al. (2019) have mentioned tribal populations known for their cultural uniqueness. Many affirmative policies have also been adopt- ed for their socio-economic and health develop- ment but the result remains abysmal. Although their geographical inaccessibility is one of the factors of their backwardness, in addition, the study also explores many other social structures PRINT: ISSN 0973-5070 ONLINE: ISSN 2456-6772 Full text open access online (Since 2007) © Kamla-Raj S-EM 2023 Ethno Med, 17(1-2): 1-13 (2023) DOI: 10.31901/24566772.2023/17.1-2.663