To what extent are the indigenous women of Jharkhand,India living in disadvantageous conditions: findings from India's National Family Health Survey 1

Indigenous populations are the most marginalized and vulnerable communities in India, constituting 8.2% of India's total population, four times larger than the total population of Australia. The state of Jharkhand accounts for 27.7% of the total indigenous population of India. This paper compares the health and socio-economic and demographic indicators among indigenous and non-indigenous women in Jharkhand in terms of ‘disadvantage ratio’, by exploring the data of 1614 ever-married women (women who are currently married or who have been married at some point in their lives) from India's second National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2), conducted during 1998–99. The study revealed that the indigenous women of Jharkhand were highly disadvantaged in terms of socio-demographic, family planning, and important aspects of maternal health and nutrition compared to non-indigenous women. They were not only disadvantaged within the state in different parameters, but also across the indigenous female population of India as a whole. The findings call for urgent implementation of special health care strategies for reducing health and socio-economic/demographic disparities among the indigenous population of Jharkhand. ¹This paper was presented at the PAA Annual Meeting, Detroit, Michigan, USA during April 29–May 2. This paper is part of the thematic cluster Global Health Beyond 2015 - more papers from this cluster can be found at http://www.globalhealthaction.netView all notes