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© Kamla-Raj 2004 Stud. Tribes Tribals, 2(2): 119-124 (2004)
Do Health Worker Female and Traditional Birth Attendant Equipped to Provide Primary Health Care in Tribal Areas? Evidences from Tribal Andhra Pradesh
T. S. Syamala
Institute for Social and Economic Change, Nagarbhavi(PO), Bangalore 560 072, Karnataka, India Telephone: 080-3215468, Fax: 080-080-3217008 E-mail: <syamala@isec.ac.in> <Syamala_ts@hotmail.com>
KeyWords Multi purpose health worker; trained birth Attendant; maternal and child health
Abstract An attempt has been made in this paper to study the knowledge, skills and performance of Multi pupose Health Worker (Female) (MPHW-F) working in tribal areas of Andhra Pradesh, their self perceived training needs in various areas of Maternal and Child Health and the knowledge of Traditional Birth Attendants in providing maternal and child health services in tribal areas.The study found that in general the MPHW (F) were ill equipped to provide MCH services in tribal areas. The knowledge of health worker female in areas of MCH were very poor, especially in areas of intra natal, post natal and treatment of minor ailments. The skills were also far below satisfactory. Majority of them could not perform accurately even the basic skills like taking height and weight of pregnant women, The other skills like hoemoglobin testing, urine testing for albumin etc were performed by gross error. Health worker over estimated their level of knowledge and skills and under estimated their need for training. The TBAs too were lagging behind in the correct knowledge and safe practices in conducting delivery. Hence there is an urgent need to redesign the basic training of health workers working in tribal areas.
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