TRIBAL HEALTH : KOTTIYUR EXPERIENCE

Tribal in Kannur district  Kannur district has a tribal population of around 38,000 distributed in 200 tribal hamlets.  Peravur, Irikkur and Iritty block panchayat abodes around 70 % of tribes in Kannur  Tribal sects in Kannur include Paaniyan, Kurichiyan, Mavilan, Karimpalan, Malavettuvan and Kanikaran

 In order to assess the condition of tribal’s in Kannur, a Prilimnery health assessment survey was carried out in a Paaniya tribal colony near Kottiyoor on  The tribal hamlet had 33 houses in 3 clusters by the side of Kottiyoor River.

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General information  Number of house holds were visited-33  Number people were enlisted- 170 ( 87 females, 83 males)  Number of under five children -14 children (5 females 9 males)

Housing condition Positives  Majority owned houses  Most were made of stones and bricks with concrete roof  Floor- 50% cement Negatives  Overcrowding – 45% (12 out of 27 houses)  Fuel used- wood  Traditional cooking place mostly inside  House very near to river- more prone to flash floods and landslides

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Water and sanitation  Drinking water source –  Up hill cluster – spring  Downhill cluster- a ditch dug out in opposite river bank  Latrines  less than 50% houses has latrine  only 2 uses it  All practice open defecation in river

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Processions  Telephones in 17 houses  7 houses have television  18 (54.5%) houses don’t have electricity  12 (33.4%) families don’t have ration cards  Only 2 houses subscribe news paper  No Bank account for 17 (51.2%) families

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Education and occupation  The education status of the community was found to be was poor particularly of the women.  41% of the population are illiterate  All tribal in the colony are manual laborers and they depend on forest resources for their daily living.  The daily wages were lower than the norm in the area.

Child health  Majority of under 5 children had low birth weight.

Under nutrition among under 5 years No of children Under nourished Severely under weight StuntingSevere stunting Males85 (62.5%)2(25%)4(50%)3 (37.2%) Females33 (100%)1(33.3%)2(67%)1 (33%) Total118 (74%)3 (27%)6 (55%)4 (36.3)

Child health  The immunization coverage was found to be good.  There is a practice of delayed breast feeding at time of birth was not observed  Exclusive breast feeding is practiced for 6 months at least by most women.  However the weaning is often delayed because of the postponement of a cultural ritual associated with weaning due to financial constraints.  Even though children are enrolled in anganwadi, the utilization is irregular due to distance

Anemia was prevalent among under 5 children and adolescent girls

Maternal health  Child marriage is common (3 out of 12 mothers)  The pregnant women do not increase their food intake during pregnancy.  Non utilization of supplementary nutrition through anganvadi

Maternal health  Utilizes the antenatal care services provided through PHC which is about 8 Km from the hamlet.  They are taking iron folic acid tablets regularly  Most of the deliveries in past 5 years were hospital deliveries  No Maternal deaths were reported in past 5 years.

Diseases  Diarrheal episodes are common  At least 3 families had members suffering from hepatitis  Anemia is prevalent among children and mothers  Skin diseases like pyoderma is common  There is one case of mental retardation and one case of psychiatric disease

Addictions  Alcoholism is prevalant among males  Use of smokeless tobacoo is seen among males females and adoloscents

Summary of health problems  Childhood protein energy malnutrition  Anemia  Sanitation  Safe drinking water  Prone to disaster like land slides and flash flood  Prone to epidemics like hepatitis and other water borne epidemics  Lack of education  Lack of health awareness  Addictions

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