Engaging tribal communities for improving people's health: lessons from rural Melghat, India

Tribal communities constitute around 9% of India's population, facing severe socioeconomic and health disparities. High maternal and infant mortality, adult mortality, malnutrition, infectious and non-communicable diseases, and addiction pose significant challenges. Limited health care access, long distances, inadequate infrastructure, and cultural reliance on traditional medicine exacerbate poor health outcomes. MAHAN Trust has addressed these challenges in the remote Melghat region since 1997 through culturally sensitive, community-driven health care interventions. Ethical and participatory community engagement has significantly reduced malnutrition and mortality in Melghat. These scalable, low-cost strategies can be adapted to improve tribal health outcomes in other low-resource settings globally.