Study of General Health and Health Determinants of Scheduled Tribe (ST) Community in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-561-4_35How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Anaemia; Health determinants; Hypertension; Nutrition; Scheduled Tribes; Socio-economic status

Abstract

The present study assesses the health status and key health determinants of Scheduled Tribe (ST) communities residing in eastern Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), particularly in the districts of Sonbhadra, Varanasi, Deoria, Ghazipur, and Ballia. Despite constitutional safeguards and welfare measures, significant socio-economic and health disparities persist between tribal and non-tribal populations. Using a semi-structured questionnaire, field observations, and measurements of blood pressure (BP) and body mass index (BMI), data were collected from 11,416 ST families to evaluate socio-economic conditions, family size, nutritional status, maternal and child health (MCH), prevalence of anaemia and hypertension, and access to medical facilities. Results reveal that a majority (73.4%) of ST families belong to the poor socio-economic grade, with Sonbhadra showing the highest deprivation (96.8%). Only one-third (33.16%) of families practice small family norms, while large family sizes persist mainly due to a lack of awareness and limited access to medical care. About 55.6% of ST families depend on government health services, but nearly half still rely on private treatment, often leading to financial strain. More than half of pregnant women receive assisted deliveries, yet unassisted home births remain common in remote areas. Nutritionally, 58.3% of adults are of normal weight, whereas 13.5% are underweight and 9.1% obese. Anaemia is alarmingly high—91.1% among women and 33% among men—while hypertension affects around 14% of adults. The study concludes that despite ongoing welfare initiatives, the tribal population in eastern U.P. remains socio-economically marginalized with poor health indicators. Targeted interventions are urgently needed to improve access to healthcare, strengthen nutrition and reproductive health programs, and promote awareness of small family norms. Establishing robust local institutions and inclusive policies is essential for bridging the health and socio-economic gap between the tribal and general populations in this region.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Poonam Singh Kharwar
AU  - Devesh Kumar
AU  - Abhishek Kumar
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/04/23
TI  - Study of General Health and Health Determinants of Scheduled Tribe (ST) Community in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, India
BT  - Proceedings of the Indo-Bhutan Social Science Conference 2025 (IBSSC 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 398
EP  - 407
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-561-4_35
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-561-4_35
ID  - Kharwar2026
ER  -