Community health is crucial for ensuring longer, healthier lives, addressing health disparities, and increasing access to care, education and engagement. Communities which respond to critical health initiatives such as hygiene, nutrition, chronic diseases and mental well-being enjoys higher life expectancies with better health indicators.

India’s tribal population which is 104 million or 8.6% of the total population, faces significant health challenges, including higher rates of infectious diseases like malaria and tuberculosis, malnutrition, and non-communicable diseases like diabetes and heart disease with lower life expectancy. Key factors affecting community health include access to healthcare, affordable housing, nutritious food, social support and a healthy environment.

In tribal areas, inadequate access to comprehensive primary health care services, hygiene, sanitation and lack of awareness, are the primary reasons for poor health status of the community. In view of this, there is an urgent need to develop suitable mechanisms to bring low-cost, affordable and accessible healthcare systems to rural and tribal areas for ensuring access to health by everyone.

Herbal traditional systems led by traditional healers and well accepted by the community can be integrated into the system to take care of the primary health needs in villages at a nominal cost. Their knowledge needs to be systematically documented, promoting cultivation and propagation of medicinal herbs which can ensure sustainability. There is a need to harness the traditional healthcare system to supplement the mainstream healthcare mechanism in the country.

Need for Empowerment of Traditional Health Practitioner (THP)

1. Lack of access to comprehensive primary health care services by the tribal community
2. THPs are the primary point of contact for health services without authentication.
3. Lack of modern knowledge and equipment for mainstreaming with the present health practices.

BAIF is addressing these challenges with livelihood generation and focussing on preventive health to improve the quality of life of tribal and rural communities through the following initiatives:

• Empower and enhance the quality, security of health care services to rural and tribal community through traditional healers.
• Authentication of THPs by Quality Council of India (QCI) Conserve, promote native medicines through Healers channel.

Tribal healers serve as essential connectors to bridge the healthcare gap and achieve these goals.

Community benefits

• Accessibility
• Availability of improved comprehensive primary health care services.
• Linkages with modern health care system.

Environmental benefits

• Conservation of Biodiversity
• Sustainable Resource Management

Individual benefits

• Increased income as supplementary livelihood
• Authentication
• Quality of life.

Conclusion

This health care model integrates traditional healing practices with modern healthcare with the goal of improved healthcare in tribal villages. Traditional medicine moves closer to culture and is available at an affordable cost thereby preventing exploitation. As Indians are accustomed to dietary restrictions, it becomes an integral part of traditional medicine and thereby increases acceptance among the community. The community are able to avail of primary health services in the village itself with the creation of a cadre of Traditional Health Practitioner (THPs) who remain an essential aspect of the complementary healthcare system in tribal areas. This system showcases a unique Health Delivery model for further scaling up and replication in other tribal regions of the country.

Case Story : A ray of hope for tribal families

Smt. Manjulaben Patel, a certified tribal healer from Amdha village in Valsad district of South Gujarat, has become a beacon of hope for her community. Prior to the certification through Vasundhara trust her skills and knowledge were unrecognized. However, her passion and dedication for healing, led her to assist other tribal healers and offer free healthcare to the tribal families. Despite a modest background, Manjulaben actively learnt and expanded her expertise in naturopathy through training received at the Nature Cure Ashram at Uruli Kanchan, Pune.

Her active participation in various forums such as Healers meet, Academic institute interactions and a Congress on “Ayurveda” helped strengthen trust among the community. As a result, her livelihood and quality of life improved significantly. Today, she earns an average of ₹70,000 per month and has established her own healthcare centre, “Charak Vanoushodhi Evam Kudarati Prathama Upchar Kendra,” where she provides treatment for various ailments such as paralysis, arthritis, joint pain, diabetes and women’s health issues. So far, she has treated around 11,200 patients.

Manjulaben also promotes traditional medicine and conservation of medicinal plants through the herbal garden established by her. As a mentor, she guides young healers and offers valuable knowledge on the use of herbs to local colleges.  Her journey is an inspiring example of how Women healers can make a significant impact on their communities and also enjoy improved quality of life.