Resources

About 104 million tribal peoples (approx. 8.6% of India's population) live across the nation. Tribal and indigenous peoples across the globe choose to live close to and in solidarity with nature. They play a significant role in biodiversity conservation. A significant proportion of tribal communities in India also live in hilly, forested, and remote rural areas. Unfortunately, public health facilities in remote areas constantly struggle with a lack of quality human resources, availability of drugs and equipment, inefficient process management, etc. Socio-cultural discriminations alienate tribal communities even further. High rates of morbidity, mortality, and malnutrition prevail in most tribal areas, especially in central India. Improving the overall health and well-being of tribal communities is crucial to achieving India’s commitment to the Global Goals. The urgency, complexity, and scale of the problem necessitate a consolidated and collaborative effort. Anamaya is a unique multi-stakeholder entity committed to facilitating this effort consolidation. 

A November 2021 article on Scroll analyzed Co-Win data and reported that districts with more than 50% tribal populations had significantly low coverage of vaccination. Recognizing the need, as a partner in Anamaya, the Tribal Health Collaborative, Piramal Swasthya made efforts with a more focused approach to address vaccine hesitancy across the tribal districts of India. This booklet is a result of the learnings from the ground, strategies that helped guide in hesitancy response among the tribal population, and good practices that emerged from the implementation of the project.