understanding indigenous peoples health-seeking behaviors: assessment of functional impairment among tribal women with anemia in dharmapuri district in tamil nadu, india

Anemia continues to be a chronic public health problem among women as is the solution to mitigate anemia, particularly among tribal women. the presence of anemia among women of reproductive age has been associated with functional outcomes ranging from fatigue, poor appetite, malaise, and poor pregnancy outcomes among pregnant women. this study aims to study if functionality impairment or lack of, could be one of the reasons for not seeking healthcare services and for noncompliance to ifa consumption. the karnofsky performance scale index allows patients to be categorized based on their functional impairment. there are 3 categories based on varying nuances in impairment from normal to death. we administered this to women with anemia in the sitteri hills of dharmapuri district. these women to assess hemoglobin levels, blood samples were obtained from each participant through intravenous blood sample collection. the samples are 2 ml of blood was collected in edta vacutainers and immediately transported as complete blood count along with haemoglobin and other indices were run with sysmex poch machine. the functional status among women with anemia revealed that around 2/3rd of the women reported normal to near normal functionality and close to 1/3rd reported  near normal functionality while exhibiting few symptoms and signs. among the women with anemia, 88 % reported having moderate anemia and 12.2% reported severe anemia. tribal women seem to be unaffected by mild discomfort or mild impairment due to anemia and seem to have adapted their functionality to the lowered hb levels to lead normal lives.