Common Health Problems and Related Health Care Practices among the Tribal Population

A cross-sectional descriptive survey was carried out to investigate the common health problems and Health care practices among purposively selected 210 Tribal people of Rangamattee Tea Garden, Mal Block, Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal. The data were collected by face to face interview using a structured interview schedule for demographic characteristics, two separate semi-structured interview schedules for identifying the common health problems and related health care practices. The result depicted that the most commonly occurring minor health problems were fever (84 %), cut injury (83 %), Cough & Cold (81 %), toothache (27 %), indigestion (11 %) and whereas the major health problems were Diarrhoea (72 %), Asthma (70 %), Diabetes Mellitus (19 %), Jaundice (14 %) and Snake bite (7 %). Harmful Practices were found to be existed in case of Jaundice, Hypertension and Snake bite but for all other health problems the tribal health practices were identified as harmless. Health care practices for Hypertension were seen dependent on gender (Chi=4.56, df=1, pless than 0.05).