Abstract
The tribal population in India too have high rates of hypertension and other risk factors of NCDs. Rayagada district, situated in the southern part of Odisha is home to diversified communities including scheduled castes and scheduled tribes with about 57% of the tribal population. It’s hard-to-reach scattered geographical areas, most of these populations remain inaccessible to various benefits, information, education and communication activities. The study was a cross-sectional study conducted after the intuitional ethical approval. The study duration was from 1st May to 30th June 2022. A systematic random sampling method was used to collect the data from a calculated sample size of 3600 individuals. A predesigned and pretested questionnaire containing four sections used to collect the required data. The study tool was incorporated in Epicollect 5.0 and data was collected through android phones. A total of 3625 individuals were interviewed with 60.5% female subjects. Most (98%) were married and belonged to Hindu religion (97%). Majority (98%) of the respondents were BPL card holders. About 57 % were chewing tobacco and 26% were alcoholic. The prevalence of diabetes and hypertension was 2 % and 20 % respectively. More than 80% were physically active, 28% were under weight and 9 % were overweight. The education level was found to be very low that may be responsible for poor food choices. Higher tobacco consumption in the tribal community has a deleterious effect and more chances of getting non-communicable diseases.
Keywords: Prevalence, Non-Communicable disease, Risk factors, Vulnerable, Tribal.