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
16.06.13
The tribal hamlet had 33 houses in 3 clusters by the
side of Kottiyoor River.

]T\kwLw

hnhctiJcWw
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

hoSpw ]pgbpw

eIvjvan

]Wn Xocm¯ hoSv
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


I¡qkpIfpS D]tbmKw 1

I¡qkpIfpS D]tbmKw 2
tIcf imkv{X kmlnXy ]cn-jXv
tIcf imkv{X kmlnXy ]cn-jXv
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

sshZypXn AIse

saUn¡Â ]cntim[\
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
Stunting
Severe
stunting
Males
8
5 (62.5%)
2(25%)
4(50%)
3 (37.2%)
Females
3
3 (100%)
1(33.3%)
2(67%)
1 (33%)
Total
11
8 (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
Thank you