International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | June 2020 | Vol 7 | Issue 6 Page 2173
International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health
Giri A et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2020 Jun;7(6):2173-2179
http://www.ijcmph.com
pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040
Original Research Article
Landscaping of non-governmental organizations working to improve
reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child health and nutrition services in
tribal India: a scoping study
Ashish Giri, Abdul Wassey, Vishal Dogra*
INTRODUCTION
India is home to nearly 1.3 billion people, of which 8.6%
are tribal.
1
Disadvantaged across history, the tribal
community continues to bear a disproportionate burden of
poverty, ill-health, illiteracy, and malnutrition.2
According to the expert committee report on tribal health,
a majority (90%) of the tribal population reside in rural
areas, over two-third (67%) work in primary sector,
nearly half (40.6%) live under poverty and are illiterate
(41%) and few (10.7%) have access to clean drinking
water compared to 20.5%, 31%, and 28.5% among non-
scheduled tribe (ST) population respectively.
2
All these
factors not only affect tribal health directly but also
hinder their ability to identify illnesses, adopt healthy
practices and seek medical care.
3
The life expectancy (at
birth) for tribal population in India is 63.9 years
compared to 67 years for general population.
2
Literature
reports high incidence of communicable (tuberculosis,
leprosy, measles), vector-borne (malaria, filariasis),
ABSTRACT
Background: Nearly 104 million (9%) of the total Indian population live in tribal areas. For the tribal population, in
the recent past, many organizations initiated health programs. However, there is little understanding of the work they
do in the health and nutrition area. In this scoping study, the study aimed to review NGO based models of healthcare
delivery with an emphasis on reproductive, maternal health, neonatal and child health, and nutrition (RMNCHN)
related interventions in tribal areas of India.
Methods: A list of NGOs, in districts having 35% tribal population, was made. NGOs with functional websites,
RMNCHN related interventions and registered with the Government of India online portal “NGO darpan” were
selected using multistage search criteria. NGO types, their approaches for RMNCHN and intervention models were
studied.
Results: A total of 1503 NGOs were working on tribal health in 115 districts having >35% tribal population. Out of
these, only 103 NGOs had an active health intervention and provided information freely in open public access. Only
36 NGOs had a well-structured program in reproductive, maternal, child health and nutrition area. A compendium of
good practices by 12 NGOs working in RMNCHN was prepared.
Conclusions: A limited number of NGOs in tribal India works on reproductive, maternal health, neonatal and child
health, and nutrition issues. The health-related interventions are primarily at a small scale, community-based, lacks
continuum of care and are present in districts with a lesser tribal population.
Keywords: Health service delivery, Landscape study, Non-governmental organizations, Reproductive maternal
neonatal and child health nutrition, Tribal health
Department of Research and Analytics, Clinical Domain, Piramal Swasthya Management and Research Institute,
Hyderabad, India
Received: 12 February 2020
Revised: 03 May 2020
Accepted: 04 May 2020
*Correspondence:
Dr. Vishal Dogra,
E-mail: vani1825@gmail.com
Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial
use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20202467