ABSTRACT
In the backdrop of accepting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) at the United Nation Development Programme’s (UNDP’s) millennium summit in 2000, the Eleventh-Five Year Plan also focuses on Faster and Inclusive Growth. A major objective of the plan is to include all the so far excluded and marginalised groups into the mainstream of development to enable them to access the newly emerging development opportunities. Health and nutrition is one of the important focus areas in the direction of promoting inclusive growth. And tribal people being socially and economically most backward communities are important target groups. In Gujarat, tribal districts are at the bottom of all important health indicators (Hirway and Mahadevia 2004: 122). Fruits of high economic development have not translated into better health outcomes in general and for the tribal population in particular. Considering the role of better health in improving productive efficiency and widening choices, poor health status means that tribal people not only continue to lag behind the development process but also remain inadequately equipped to face the challenges of the competitive economic model.
