Health indicators of SC/STs cause concern

Hyderabad: Despite dalits and other marginalized sections getting many social and economic rights, the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and other Backward Classes continue to lag behind in many health indicators. Caste-based politics is predominant. Demands for reservations are more pronounced. But, the public health concerns of these sections of society go unnoticed.

The proportion of children suffering from three types of undernourishment (weight for age, height for age and weight for height) is relatively higher among the SCs and STs as compared to that of the children of other castes. The proportion of under-nutrition with regard to all the three indicators is even higher among tribal children, according to a study on health status of dalits in India authored by Avatthi Ramaiah published in the latest issue of the Economic and Political Weekly.

Though there is a general trend of anaemia rising among women, the increase in number of women suffering from anaemia is higher among those belonging to SC , ST and OBC communities. For instance, 65 percent of tribal women are anaemic which is 13 percent more than the national average.

The extent of coverage of vaccination and the magnitude of increase in coverage over a period is much less among SC and ST children as compared to other categories. The SC children lag behind even in access to vaccination. The situation is much worse among tribal children.

The incidence of neonatal mortality is much worse among SC and ST’s. The Infant Mortality Rate among these sections is also much high among these sections. The relatively higher level of IMR and child mortality rates among the SCs is more evident in the case of rural India. The dalits and tribal’s also suffer from peculiar form of illnesses like Sickle Cell Anaemia.