An interface of socio-cultural factors and reproductive health among the Jaunsarese of Jaunsar -Bawar in Dehradun District of Uttarakhand

There is a general agreement that reproductive health of the tribal groups in India is very poor. The reproductive health of tribal populations is, as such, a function of the interaction between socio-cultural and socio-biological practices and environmental conditions. So many studies has been conducted in this regard, but, there has been paucity of studies depicting association between socio-cultural characteristics and reproductive health among the Jaunsarese who are practicing ‘Polygynandry’ as a tradition, and reside in hilly remote areas of Uttarakhand. Demographic studies carried out in this population have revealed that most of the Jaunsari population is lagging behind than population characteristics of the state of Uttarakhand. The ‘fertility’ levels are lower and ‘mortality’ levels are moderate. This anthropological study carried out among Jaunsarese revealed prevalence of a number of socio-cultural practices which affect the reproductive health of Jaunsari women to a large extent.