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Abstract Background Even though, there is a particularly high prevalence of depression among individuals from the hill tribes in northern Thailand, they are unable to receive appropriate intervention due to cultural, transportation, communication, and legal barriers. Using community-based participatory research (CBPR), a depression care model was developed for the hill tribe population. The effectiveness of this model was examined using questionnaires, observations, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. Methods Participants include people with depression (n = 17) who were chosen based on their mild to moderately severe depression scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9 scores of 5–19) and their caregivers (n = 5). The in-depth interview was conducted to distinguish the selected participants into two groups. The first group, the self-help group program, consisted of 12 participants endorsing negative thoughts about themselves and inappropriate problems solving. The second group, the family camp program, had ten participants, including five patients with family-related issues and their family members. Subjects separately participated in either the self-help or the family groups over three weeks. They completed the PHQ-9 at the beginning and end of the intervention. Questionnaires, observations, focus groups, and in-depth interviews were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the model. Content analysis was used to examine the qualitative data. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze the changes in the severity of depression before and after participation in the intervention. Results The depression scores on the PHQ-9 of 12 participants improved significantly (11.92 ± 1.08 vs. 3.08 ± 0.51; p = 0.002) following participation in the self-help group. Increased self-esteem and improved interpersonal relationships were reported by participants in the self-help group program during interviews. There was no significant difference in the depression scores of 10 participating in the family camp program (6.00 ± 3.83 to 5.30 ± 3.56; p = 0.161). Conclusion A model for depression care was tested in a hill tribe community, and its effectiveness was clearly observed. The developed model can be applied to other hill tribe communities in northern Thailand to improve depression care.

Interfacility transfers of patients in rural mountain areas have many issues that require further investigation; for example, lack of resources and the inability to provide appropriate treatments for a patient's conditions are the reasons for interfacility transfer. A qualitative descriptive study was conducted to explore the experience of hill tribe people (n = 16) and healthcare providers (n = 22) regarding emergency medical conditions and interfacility transfer in rural mountain areas of northern Thailand. Data were collected from February to July 2019 via in-depth interviews. All interviews were transcribed verbatim, and the content analysis procedure of Elo and Kyngäs was used for data analysis. The study's trustworthiness was established using Lincoln and Guba's criteria. The finding revealed four categories reflecting hill tribe people's experience of emergency medical conditions and interfacility transfer: 1) perceived barriers to rapid access, 2) helping hands, 3) the polarity of interfacility transfer services, and 4) ways toward a bright future. The healthcare providers' experience was divided into three categories consisting of 1) the district system of interfacility transfer, 2) making it work: the three sources of power, and 3) hope for better interfacility transfer. These findings may contribute to a better comprehension of the nurses and healthcare providers who actively provide interfacility transfer support for emergency medical conditions suitable for hill tribe populations and healthcare settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Even though, there is a particularly high prevalence of depression among individuals from the hill tribes in northern Thailand, they are unable to receive appropriate intervention due to cultural, transportation, communication, and legal barriers. Using community-based participatory research (CBPR), a depression care model was developed for the hill tribe population. The effectiveness of this model was examined using questionnaires, observations, focus groups, and in-depth interviews. Methods: Participants include people with depression (n = 17) who were chosen based on their mild to moderately severe depression scores on the Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item (PHQ-9 scores of 5–19) and their caregivers (n = 5). The in-depth interview was conducted to distinguish the selected participants into two groups. The first group, the self-help group program, consisted of 12 participants endorsing negative thoughts about themselves and inappropriate problems solving. The second group, the family camp program, had ten participants, including five patients with family-related issues and their family members. Subjects separately participated in either the self-help or the family groups over three weeks. They completed the PHQ-9 at the beginning and end of the intervention. Questionnaires, observations, focus groups, and in-depth interviews were used to evaluate the effectiveness of the model. Content analysis was used to examine the qualitative data. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyze the changes in the severity of depression before and after participation in the intervention. Results: The depression scores on the PHQ-9 of 12 participants improved significantly (11.92 ± 1.08 vs. 3.08 ± 0.51; p = 0.002) following participation in the self-help group. Increased self-esteem and improved interpersonal relationships were reported by participants in the self-help group program during interviews. There was no significant difference in the depression scores of 10 participating in the family camp program (6.00 ± 3.83 to 5.30 ± 3.56; p = 0.161). Conclusion: A model for depression care was tested in a hill tribe community, and its effectiveness was clearly observed. The developed model can be applied to other hill tribe communities in northern Thailand to improve depression care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hill tribes in Thailand traditionally depend on rotational shifting cultivation (RSC). However, insufficient understanding remains on post-fire soil properties and soil erodibility (k-values) with fallow years. To address this gap, the levels of soil organic carbon (SOC), soil total nitrogen (STN), soil nutrients, and soil erodibility after fire in RSC were investigated. Topsoil (0–10 cm) samples from sites with 4 (RSC-4Y), 5 (RSC-5Y), and 7 (RSC-7Y) fallow years in Chiang Mai Province, northern Thailand, were taken at four time points: before burning, 5 min after burning, 9 months after burning, and 2 years after burning. Soil pH, electrical conductivity, and soil nutrient (available P, K, and Ca) levels were increased after burning and remained higher than the pre-burning levels for at least 2 years. The SOC stock decreased after burning in all fallow fields. At 2 years after burning, the SOC stock in RSC-4Y was higher than before burning, whereas in RSC-5Y and RSC-7Y, the levels had not reached the pre-fire levels. The STN stocks of all studied fields significantly decreased after burning and had not reached the pre-burning levels after 2 years. After burning, the topsoil of RSC-4Y was most susceptible to erosion. However, only in RSC-4Y, the k-value was unchanged at 2 years after burning. Three different approaches are recommended for post-fire land management: 1) farmers should not cut and remove the weeds and grasses at the soil surface, 2) burning should be performed around late winter or early summer (November–February) to inhibit complete combustion, and 3) contour-felled log erosion barriers should be made by using the trunks remaining after the fire to trap the sediment and slow down surface runoff.

The main aim of this article is to examine the relatively new phenomenon of "dark tourism" based on two examples from Thailand. The focus is on the question of how, why and with what consequences certain places associated with death, war or crime have become "tourist commodities", linking the important issue of (public) commemoration with questions of consumer history. The concept of "consumption" in this context is not limited to goods and/or services, but also encompasses the consumption of historical events such as visiting historical sites like the Thai-Burmese "Death Railway" built by prisoners of war in the central Thai province of Kanchanaburi during World War II, or the more subtle example of villages of the so-called Hill Tribe peoples of northern Thailand with their past as opium traders in the 19th and 20th centuries, exemplified by the Hmong village Doi Pui. To analyse how different tourist groups react to the commercialisation of these sites and how their perceptions differ from one another, both local and foreign tourists as well as local experts were interviewed. Based on the theoretical concepts of "dark tourism" and the "tourist gaze", the connection between commercialisation, "touristification" and memory is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to examine the significance of firearms in the making of the frontier and the ways in which societies on the North-East Frontier of British India encountered and adapted firearms between the 1860s and 1910s. It will study the complex ways in which the entry of firearms was mediated and galvanised by a range of processes such as imperial expansion, the intrusion of capital, access to resources, the role of violence, and the drawing of new borders. In turn, the circulation and diffusion of firearms also engendered a range of other practices and experiences among the societies on the frontier. Moving along various land and river routes, a range of individuals and traders were involved in circulating arms and ammunition into the imperial margins. They, in turn, linked the frontier geographies to markets, ports, and other larger oceanic networks. A focus on the flow of firearms as such illustrates a web of interconnections that straddled multiple scales and relations. As firearms circulated and gradually made their way into the periphery, various measures were initiated by the colonial state, such as enforcing prohibitive laws and instituting surveillance structures to control and block the flow of firearms along the North-East Frontier. This article examines some of these complex processes, dynamics, and experiences that ensued through the circulation and diffusion of firearms on the North-East Frontier of British India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of anemia and hemoglobin types among hill tribe women of Nan Province, Thailand. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 658 women from Hmong, Khamu, Lua, Mien and Mlabri hill tribes who lived in Tha Wang Pha, Pua and Bo Kluea Districts of Nan Province. Complete blood counts and hemoglobin typing were performed. Results: The prevalence of anemia in the overall group was 12.5%. The highest and lowest prevalence rates of anemia were detected in Mlabri (42.9%) and Mien women (9.5%). In the overall group the prevalence of hemoglobin E traits was 9.1% and beta-thalassemia was 2.1%. Khamu women had the highest prevalence (8.3%) of beta-thalassemia trait whereas Lua and Mlabri women had a higher prevalence of hemoglobin E trait (14.4% and 14.3%, respectively) than other tribes. Conclusion: The prevalence of anemia and abnormal hemoglobin typing among hill tribe women of Nan Province in northern Thailand varied among hill tribes. These data may be beneficial for the prevention and control of thalassemia in hill tribe population and in genetic counseling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highland is a typical area in Vietnam with a great deal of unique things for people to study and discover. Among them are culture and language, the two reciprocal elements to create communities called Hill tribes. Original Hill tribes came to the Highland long time ago and set up their life based on their root culture until now. When studying about Hill tribes, we realize that their culture is very interesting and worth tracing. Therefore, how to conserve Hill tribes’ culture is what we need to take into consideration as soon as possible.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to understand the pattern and perception of alcohol drinking among the Lahu people in northern Thailand. Design/methodology/approach - A qualitative method was used to elicit information on the patterns and perceptions of alcohol drinking amongst the Lahu tribespeople. Question guidelines had been developed from literature reviews and approved by three experts in the field of public health and alcohol studies. A total of 21 participants of different ages and sexes from 3 separate Lahu villages were invited to provide information. All interviews were taped and transcribed before analysis. A content analysis was used. Findings - Lahu people begin alcohol consumption at an average of 12 years, with males usually beginning before females of the same age. Consuming alcohol is perceived to be a sign of adulthood and is also used as a means of gaining social acceptance from others in the community. Alcohol is consumed throughout the year with young and old, male and females, describing varied reasons for drinking. Income, parental behavior, and peer pressure contributes to the onset of alcohol drinking among young Lahu people. Several factors contributed to the use of alcohol among the Lahu people such as sex, age, occupation and income, peer pressure, taste and price as well as cultural adaptations amongst the farming community that play a significant role in the frequency of alcohol consumption amongst the Lahu community. Originality/value - The results should support the development of peer education on the negative impact of alcohol use among the young people, and development of a community agreement on reducing excessive alcohol use in the Lahu community should be implemented.

Thailand’s near-total elimination of opium poppy cultivation is attributed to “alternative development” programming, which replaces illicit crops with licit ones. However, opium poppy cultivation was not drastically reduced because substitute crops earned the same income as opium: nothing can equal the price of opium to smallholder farmers, especially those without land tenure. Thailand’s reduction in poppy cultivation was achieved by the increased presence and surveillance capability of state security actors, who, year by year, were able to locate and destroy fields, and arrest cultivators, with increasing accuracy. This coercion was also accompanied by benefits to cultivators, including the provision of health and education services and the extension of roads; both stick and carrot constituted the encroachment of the Thai state. The provision of citizenship to hill tribe members also gave them a vested interest in the state, through their ability to hold land, access health care, education and work opportunities, amongst others. These initiatives did not occur without costs to hill tribe cultures for whom a symbiotic relationship with the land was and remains disrupted. These findings indicate that alternative development programming unlinked to broader state-building initiatives in Afghanistan, Myanmar and other opium poppy-producing areas will fail, because short-term, high-yield, high value, imperishable opium will remain the most logical choice for poor farmers, especially given the lack of a farmer’s vested interest in the state which compels them to reduce their income whilst offering them no other protections or services.

Opium poppy cultivation in Thailand fell from 12,112 hectares in 1961 to 281 ha in 2015. One outlier exists: Chiang Mai province’s remote southwestern district, Omkoi. 90% of the district is a national forest reserve where human habitation is illegal. However, an ethnic Karen population has lived there since long before the law that outlawed them was created, unconnected to the state by road, with limited or no access to health, education and other services: they cultivate the majority of Thailand’s known opium poppy, because they have little other choice. They increasingly rely on cash-based markets, their lack of citizenship precludes them from land tenure which might incentivize them to grow alternate crops, and their statelessness precludes them from services and protections. Nor is the Thai state the singular Leviathan that states are often assumed to be; it is a collection of networks with divergent interests, of whom one of the most powerful, the Royal Forestry Department, has purposely made Omkoi’s population illegible to the state, and has consistently blocked the attempts of other state actors to complexify this state space beyond the simplicity of its forest. These factors make short-term, high-yield, high value, imperishable opium the most logical economic choice for poor Karen farmers residing in this “non-state” space.

The article discusses the government policy of Thailand toward the hill tribes in the country, whose administrative category was changed to "ethnic group" after 2002. Initially, it was believed that the hill tribes consisted of indigenous people, but during the post-Cold War period they started to take illegal migrant workers from neighboring countries as members.

The diversity of practices and dynamism in traditional mountain production systems of south Asia has been the focus of recent studies. This paper attempts to describe the diversity and dynamism of social and agricultural practices in a traditional mountain production system. The paper is based on ethnographic data gathered from Jangi village in district Kinnaur of Himachal Pradesh, where farmers are described and interpreted in the context of their risk-mediating roles in their agro-pastoral activities. Here, risk mediation is the reduction or elimination of this possibility, as well as the minimisation of its impacts, in case such a loss or harm does occur. The paper can be seen as contributing to a growing body of literature on resource use planning, management and sustainable development, also indicating that people are changing in response to the forces of globalisation, while maintaining their ecological knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In Thailand, according to the national nutrition survey of the Thai population who live in the cities by the Ministry of Public Health, about 12% of preschool children aged 1-6 years were malnourished. The rate of malnutrition is much higher among mountain minority ('hill tribe') children than city children. This paper reports a study of malnutrition, body composition and health conditions of Karen hill tribe children aged 1-6 years in Thailand. Methods: All children aged 1-6 years (N = 158; 83 boys, 75 girls) from the three Karen villages (Mae Hae Tai, Mae Yot, Mae Raek) of Mae Chaem district in the north of Thailand were studied. Anthropometric measurements of all children were obtained and body composition data were derived. All children were examined by a qualified medical doctor. A stool sample and blood smear for malaria from all children were examined by a well qualified medical technologist. Results: All families of the study boys and girls had incomes lower than the Thailand poverty line (US $ 1,000/year). There were no significant differences in weight, height or body mass index of boys and girls from each of the three villages. Malnutrition in children were found 85.5% by using weight-for-age, 73% by height for- age (stunting) and 48.4% by weight-for-height (wasting). Boys had more total body fat mass than girls. However, all of them had low lean body mass and fat mass. Nearly all children (98%) suffered from either upper respiratory tract infection, skin infection, scabies and/or diarrhoea. Also, nearly all of them (97%) had scaly and dry skin over their chest walls and legs. About 10% of children had either angular stomatitis (5%) or bleeding per gums (3%) or bow legs (1%) or frontal bossing (1%) with their implications for micronutrient deficiency. None of the children from the three villages were infested with the malarial parasite. On average, 54% of children from Mae Hae Tai village and 85% of children from Mae Yot village but only 4% of the children from Mae Raek village were infested with parasites. Ascaris lumbricoides was the most common infestation in all children from three villages. Conclusion: The prevalence of malnutrition was high among the Karen hill tribe children aged 1-6 years, Thailand. Most of the children suffered from upper respiratory tract infection, skin infection, scabiasis and/or diarrhrea. Nearly all of them had scaly and dry skin over their chest walls and legs which indicated essential fatty acid deficiencies. However, only 10% of them had vitamin deficiencies such as B2, C, and D. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking an historical perspective, this article explores the social, economic, and political context of deforestation and watershed degradation in the highlands of northern Thailand. After the Second World War, the Thai government began promoting the colonization of the highlands, encouraging lowland landless farmers, agribusinesses, and logging companies to colonize and deforest the highlands. In the 1980s, the Thai government declared the closure of the frontier and gave the Royal Forest Department (RFD) the role of protecting the nation's forests and reforesting the denuded areas. Based on information gathered in a Hmong village and an RFD station, the article argues not only that the RFD is unsuccessful in dealing with the problems, but that its policies ultimately lead to further deforestation, worsen the present water imbalance, and result in the harassment of the resident ethnic minorities, who are held responsible for the negative effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hill tribes of northern Thailand comprise nine officially recognized groups: the Austroasiatic-speaking (AA) Khmu, Htin and Lawa; the Hmong-Mien-speaking (HM) IuMien and Hmong; and the Sino-Tibetan-speaking (ST) Akha, Karen, Lahu and Lisu. Except the Lawa, the rest of the hill tribes migrated into their present habitats only very recently. The Thai hill tribes were of much interest to research groups focusing on study of cultural and genetic variation because of their unique languages and cultures. So far, there have been several genetic studies of the Thai hill tribes. However, complete forensic microsatellite database of the Thai hill tribes is still lacking. To construct such database, we newly generated 654 genotypes of 15 microsatellites commonly used in forensic investigation that belong to all the nine hill tribes and also non-hill tribe highlanders from northern Thailand. We also combined 329 genotypes from previous studies of northern Thai populations bringing to a total of 983 genotypes, which were then subjected to genetic structure and population relationships analyses. Our overall results indicated homogenous genetic structure within the HM- and Tai-Kadai (TK)-speaking groups, large genetic divergence of the HM-speaking Hmong but not IuMien from the other Thai groups, and genetic heterogeneity within the ST- and AA-speaking groups, reflecting different population interactions and admixtures. In addition to establishing genetic relationships within and among these populations, our finding, which provides a more complete picture of the forensic microsatellite database of the multiple Thai highland dwellers, would not only serve to expand and strengthen forensic investigation in Thailand, but would also benefit its neighboring countries of Laos and Myanmar, from which many of the Thai hill tribes originated and where large populations of these ethnic groups still reside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hill tribes are a group of people who live in remote areas in northern Thailand. They typically use untreated water for drinking, that can lead several health problems. The six main hill tribes-Akha, Hmong, Karen, Lahu, Lisu, and Yao-were selected for the study. A validated questionnaire was used for data collection. Water samples were collected from the selected villages and tested for the quality at Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand. Results: the major sources of drinking water were mountain water supplies (74.3%), and commercial bottled water (21.4%). Easy access, sufficiency for the whole year, and food-drug administration sign labeled were the criteria used for selecting sources of drinking water. Colorless and safety were also used as a selection criteria for their drinking water in some tribes. Lisu, Karen, and Hmong treated their drinking water by boiling, while Akha and Lahu stored the water in certain containers to allow particle settling before drinking water without treatment. 42.0% of the water samples had a turbidity values <5 NTU, and total coliform and fecal coliform bacteria were detected in 100.0% of the samples. To prevent water-borne diseases among the hill tribe people, appropriate water treatments such as boiling, filtration, and disinfection are recommended.