Health Aspects of the Elderly in two Tribal Communities

Aging is unequivocally a universal and irreversible process. Aging presents many challenges to society and individuals. With gradual and sustained increase in life expectancy, the number of elderly, both relative and absolute, is increasing all over the world. With this increase, is emerging newer needs of this group, which are being felt in all sectors of human sustenance, be it health, social or economic etc. Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Disease profiles are generally linked to the socio-economic status of the individual in an economy like India. This book is an attempt to look into the health aspects of the elderly in two tribal communities i.e, The Sugali and the Yanadi of Andhra Pradesh, India. As suggested often (Bagga, 1999) generalization about the socio-economic, relative health status of the elderly needs to be done carefully.There is an urgent need for health awareness and economic upliftment programme for Indian elderly especially for tribals, whös percentage is also like to increase on par with other population groups.