• Mrs. Christy Antony

Seeds of Empowerment: cultivating Reproductive Resilience among Tribal Adolescent Girls through innovative health Initiatives ABSTRACT Reproductive health is important for women's general health and well-being. It is central to their ability to make choices. It is important to take steps to protect it from infections and prevent problems—including some long-term health problems Although social and economic factors have been identified as determinants of reproductive health in prior studies, the ecological component has been overlooked in understanding reproductive health. The present study takes a sustainability approach to reproductive health and examines its relationship with socioeconomic and ecological correlates. Against the backdrop of environmental deterioration, the present study focuses on “Reproductive issues of tribal girls in Attapady block of Palakkad district of Kerala” and the extent to which the changes in tribal habitat influence the reproductive health of tribal girls. The scope of the present study is to improve the reproductive health of tribal adolescent girls in the Attapady block panchayath. The study also evaluates the health services already available in the area for the upliftment of this tribal community; reasons for not utilizing these services; and suggests appropriate actions for strengthening and implementing health and other allied services to improve the quality of life of these underserved people. Objectives of the study: The study is conducted with the following specific objectives. 1. To analyze the reproductive health status of tribal adolescent girls in the study area 2. To find out the reproductive health services availed by tribal adolescent girls in the study area 3. To investigate the issues of reproductive health of tribal adolescent girls Methods & Materials; A descriptive study design was adopted for the study. The samples that belonged to the age of 14 -21 years selected with the multistage sampling technique consisted of 89 adolescent girls. The data was collected with an interview schedule. Result and discussion: The studies show that a number of myths and taboos prevail in this tribal community. 65 samples(73%) celebrated first menarche as their first marriage and the majority (72%) of girls received special gifts and special food on that day. 68 (76.40%) participants reported regular cycles and 21 (23.6%) samples reported irregular menstrual periods after menarche. Only 65.2% of girls utilized the services provided by the Anganwadi. The majority (77.5%) do not attend the counseling sessions that were provided for the group. It is very evident from the data that there is poor utilization of reproductive health services by adolescent girls in the tribal area.

Empowerment, Reproductive resilience, Tribal, Adolescent girls, innovative health initiatives

"Seeds of Empowerment: cultivating Reproductive Resilience among Tribal Adolescent Girls through Innovative Health Initiatives ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 12, page no.e316-e332, December-2023, Available :http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2312442.pdf

"Seeds of Empowerment: cultivating Reproductive Resilience among Tribal Adolescent Girls through Innovative Health Initiatives ", International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Innovative Research (www.jetir.org | UGC and issn Approved), ISSN:2349-5162, Vol.10, Issue 12, page no. ppe316-e332, December-2023, Available at : http://www.jetir.org/papers/JETIR2312442.pdf