Estimates of infant and child mortality, expectation of life in major tribes of central India based on census 2011
Arvind Verma, Ravendra K Sharma and Kalyan B Saha
National Institute for Research in Tribal Health, India
: Int J Ment Health Psychiatry
Abstract
Information on vital rates is necessary for formulating and monitoring socio-economic development. According to Indian census 2011, Scheduled Tribe (ST) population is 8.6%, which is numerically higher than population of many countries in Southeast Asia and WHO African region. Of these, the ST population in central India (Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Rajasthan states) accounts for 70 per cent of the tribal population in rural India. Tribes belong to different ethnic groups and have great affinity to their culture, belief and rituals which affects their health. For planning health care services, data on different health-demographic indicators like infant mortality rate (IMR), under five mortality rate (U5MR), expectation of life at birth e00 etc are essential. In India, data are available, but are restricted to total ST population. There is no information available among different tribes. An attempt has been made to estimate the IMR, U5MR and e00 among the major tribes of central region. Trussell version of Brass method is used to estimate mortality indicator using MORTPAK 4.3 (United Nations) using tribe specific tables of 2011 census. The estimated IMR for total STs (for year 2006-07) varied from 58 in Maharashtra to 85 in Madhya Pradesh (MP) and Odisha states per thousand live births and U5MR 72 in Maharashtra to 121 in Odisha. Similarly, e00 varied from 62.2 among tribes of Odisha to 69.0 in tribes of Maharashtra. Overall, IMR, U5MR and e00 ¬for tribes of Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have worst mortality indicators. Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group (PVTGs) is having poor mortality indicators as compared to other tribes. Baiga in MP and Chhattisgarh states were having a very high IMR of 103 and 128; U5MR of 152 and 204 respectively. Whereas, e00 of Baiga tribes was 57 and 51 respectively, reflecting their miserable health conditions. vermaarvind1@nirth.res.in
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