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Low haemoglobin level or anaemia is a health problem worldwide especially in developing countries like India. Anaemia is generally higher among indigenous groups compared to general population globally and females are specifically more prone to anaemia. However, studies are inadequate on indigenous groups of India. The aims of the study are to determine the prevalence of anaemia among the female Oraons of North 24 Parganas and to study the association between anaemia and concomitants like socio-demographic and food habit variables. Data have been collected on demographic, socio-economic and food habit variables using well-tested questionnaire from 309 Oraon females living in rural and urban areas of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. Haemoglobin data were collected using standard instrument and technique. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression were used to analyze the data using SPSS version 16.0. Females of rural and urban areas were mostly married and non-literate, employed as labourers and had sedentary occupations. Majority of them consume fruits and vegetables but less animal protein and dairy product. Around 80% of the females were anaemic, irrespective of their habitat, socio-economic status and food habits. Anaemic status was associated with insufficient intake of animal protein, which is significantly associated with the anaemia status of the females in the present study.

Fertility and under-five mortality are considered as key health indicators of a population. Both the fertility and under-five mortality varies accross countries, regions, ethnic groups and so on, which may bedue to disparities in socio-economic and cultural factors. The study aimed to better understanding the association of fertility and under-five mortality with selected socio-economic characteristics of the Santal labourer group of Birbhum district, West Bengal. Cross-sectional data have been collected on fertility, mortality and socio-economic characteristics from 627 ever-married Santal women. Descriptive statistics, multivariate logistic regression and Cox proportion hazard analysis have been done. Total fertility rate (TFR) of the present study group was 2.9 and the mortality rate was 105.1. In the present study, educational status, age and household size of the women have significant association with fertility. Under-five mortality has significant association with educational status of mother and birth order of the children. The study indicated that education was the one of the important factors (socio-economic characters) that had most significant impact on both fertility and under-five mortality of the Santal labourer group.

Life table calculation of small populations, especially of marginal populations, is difficult due to a small number of death records and lack of a systematic birth and death registry. The present study aimed to calculate a life table of a small sample of Santal population from Beliatore area of the Bankura district, West Bengal, India, using the recall method. The data on birth and death events were collected using house-to-house interviewing and cross-checking the data with reference to the significant events of the area and the family. The life table was calculated from age specific death rate of a closed population retrospectively estimated for 10 years. The calculated life expectancy at birth of the study population was 63.9 years with a standard error of 3.15 years. The finding agrees with the life expectancy of the other larger populations of the region, although calculated using conventional methods. The method needs to be evaluated to get the optimum number of death events required for calculating the life table with an acceptable error level. The study will be helpful for comparisons of overall health status of small populations with respect to time and space.

Malnutrition (underweight and overweight) is regarded as a risk factor for several cardio-vascular morbidity and mortality. Indigenous groups, due to their daily hardship and poverty, generally remain underweight, but recent studies reported that prevalence of overweight is increasing among them. However, the studies are still scanty. In view, the aims of the study are to know the nutritional status in terms of BMI values and to find out the association between socio-economic status, lifestyle variables with underweight and overweight status of the Oraon of North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. Findings reveal the presence of both underweight and overweight in the population where lifestyle variables play a significant role. The study will contribute to explore the lifestyle of this indigenous group and its role in eradicating malnutrition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is scarcity of health information in many subpopulations in India, which needs to be explored for formulating effective public health policy. Studies on the tea garden population revealed that poor socioeconomic conditions, ignorance due to illiteracy, culture and food habit, overcrowding, and unhygienic living conditions make the population vulnerable to various communicable and noncommunicable diseases and malnutrition. Data were collected from the labourers of Birpara and Dalgaon tea gardens of Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal. The objective was to identify the primary health care available vis-à-vis the health problems. The results were based on mortality data, subjective well-being, frequency of ailment symptoms, perceived health status, and selected health practices as well as some observations, which indicate their cognition and threshold regarding health problems, presented as case studies. Mortality rates were high in the population; comparative mortality data shows no considerable change in mortality rate over time and space. A very high frequency of anaemia was prevalent among females along with sore throat and abdominal pain. Perceived health status of most of the people was good, although that was not always true, because the perception of the people often depends on their threshold and cognition about health and disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Occupational health deals with diseases or injuries caused due to work. Different types of work cause different types of ill-effect on health and may cause changes in health traits; empirical studies on the issues are scanty. The present study aims to investigate the differences in selected health traits between two occupational groups of the same ethnic origin. Cross-sectional data collected on 357 adult Oraon labourers engaged in two different occupations, namely, agriculture and brickfield in Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal, of which are 62 male and 43 female agricultural labourers and 136 male and 116 female brickfield labourers. Data consists of anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, and haemoglobin traits. Health status assessed in terms of BMI, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and haemoglobin level following standard cut-off values. Mean values of both the occupational groups show similar trends in case of selected anthropometric and health traits. Individuals are ecto-mesomorphic irrespective of sex and occupation. Majority of individuals of either sex of both the occupational groups are underweight but hypertensive. In anthropological data, the trend of mean values is important than mere statistical significance. Data indicates that both the occupational groups have similar health condition, maybe due to their heavy manual activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]