On April 7, 2021, Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare along with Arjun Munda, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs virtually launched ‘Anamaya’, the Tribal Health Collaborative. It is a multi stake holder initiative of Tribal Affairs Ministry.
- Objective – To converge efforts of various Government agencies & organisations to enhance the health and nutrition status of the tribal communities of India.
- Supporting Partners – Piramal Foundation & Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
Activities to be undertaken
As part of the initiative, Tribal Ministry will
- Set up a National Council on Tribal Health to drive policy initiatives in Tribal Health.
- Establish a Health Cell to monitor healthcare delivery in tribal areas.
- Devising mechanisms to implement the Tribal Health Action Plan.
Highlights
- During the meeting, Dr Harsh Vardhan highlighted the joint efforts taken by the Ministries of Tribal Affairs and Health & Family Welfare to jointly address the health gaps of tribal communities.
- In March 2021, Dr Harsh Vardhan launched the ‘Tribal TB Initiative’ as a step towards the goal of ‘TB Mukt Bharat’ by 2025.
Problems facing Tribals
Tribals face several problems when accessing public health systems.
- Lack of health facilities in indigenous communities.
- Cultural differences with health care providers such as differences in languages, human resource shortages.
- Difficult Terrain & infrequent transport among others.
Additional Info:
Anamaya is an initiative bringing together governments, philanthropists, national and international foundations, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs)/Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to end all preventable deaths among the tribal communities of India.
It aims to build a sustainable, high-performing health eco-system to address the key health challenges faced by the tribal population of India. It will begin its operations with 50 tribal, Aspirational Districts (with more than 20% ST population) across 6 high tribal population states.
Over a 10-year period, the work of the THC will be extended to 177 tribal Districts as recognised by the Ministry of Tribal Affairs.
Recent Related News:
i.On 17th August 2020, Union Minister of Tribal Affairs Arjun Munda inaugurated the first of its kind e-portal “Swasthya”, a tribal health and nutrition portal.
About Ministry of Tribal Affairs (MoTA):
Union Minister – Arjun Munda (Lok Sabha MP, Constituency – Khunti, Jharkhand)
Minister of State – Renuka Singh Saruta (Lok Sabha MP, Constituency – Surguja, Chhattisgarh)
