Seetharampuram Tribal Settlement

What? Why? How? Importance of Nutrition

Location: Seetharampuram tribal hamlet, Kothagudem, Telangana.

Date of visit: 7 September, 2020

Number of families: 20

Activities

Nutrition Rainbow
  • Awareness activity on importance of colourful diet through rangoli using Red, White, Green, Blue, Yellow & Orange colours and food materials
  • Assessment of diversity in food consumption of tribal households by asking them to get little amounts of each food material available at their homes and place it on respective rangoli colours
  • Distributing fruits to tribal families and promoting its consumption by addressing its importance in growth, development and maintenance of body among children and adults
  • Unstructured interview to identify needs and issues faced by tribal people

Awareness Sessions

1. Health education on importance of diversity in food in protecting health and preventing diseases
2. Tribal women helping out the participant in placing food items matching to the rangoli colours

Major Findings

  • Major source of food consumption dependent on food items from fair price shops, meat and kitchen garden
  • Assessment through food items brought by tribal women from their households indicates their limitations in access to diversified food
  • Difficulty to access health care during emergencies due to lack of transportation and roads
  • Unavailability of power supply and toilets
  • Single hand pump as only source of drinking water, when its supply is hampered water intake from nearest lake is stored and consumed
  • Nearest fair price shops for availing essential commodities is at 10kms
  • During rains connectivity to nearest areas is blocked as hamlet located on the banks of canal which gets filled with rain water

Unstructured interview on needs and issues faced by tribals in their hamlet

Planned interventions

  • Connecting local NGOs for arranging solar lights and water filters to solve lightening and drinking water issues
  • Maintaining health record of tribal families to monitor their health status and identify major or minor issues requiring hospitalization or immediate care
  • Connecting doctors over mobile phones for consultation in case of major or minor health issues faced by tribals
  • Creating awareness for institutional delivery and utilising services under sub centers, PHCs, CHCs and area hospitals in treatment or consultation of health issues
  • Organizing WASH programs and health promotion activities on Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Day
  • Providing vegetable seeds for kitchen garden and supply of fruits to tribal households in order to promote food diversity and health care

Duration of implementing intervention : 3 Months

Funds estimation : ₹ 10,000