On the direction of NHM State Mission Director Dr Vinay Goyal IAS, the State Health Systems Resource Centre (SHSRC) Kerala presented "Reflections: Study on Health System Responsiveness to Healthcare Needs of Tribal Communities" at a one-day Tribal Health workshop organized by the Health Department, focusing on improving healthcare outcomes in tribal communities, held at the KISHFW conference hall in Trivandrum.

Dr. V. Jithesh, the Executive Director of SHSRC Kerala, provided a brief introduction about the institution and the topic. The presentation consisted of two sessions, each delivered by Research officers from SHSRC-Kerala.

In the first session, Dr. Manju Madhavan presented the findings from the study “Health Systems Responsiveness to the Healthcare Needs of Tribal Communities through Family Health Centres in Kerala.” She discussed the gaps at the health system level and shared perspectives from tribal beneficiaries on issues that hindered service utilization.

In the second session, Dr. Bhavya Fernandez discussed the findings of the study on the factors affecting the hesitancy of tribal women to deliver at public health facilities. Her findings were based on in-depth interviews with tribal mothers who had recently given birth.

Dr. Vinay Goyal IAS, appreciated the efforts of SHSRC in conducting the studies and instructed that more studies into individual programmes be taken up by SHSRC so that access to each programme may be increased.

The workshop was attended by State level officers of DHS, NHM District Programme Managers, RCH Officer and other officers from various districts, and representatives from the Tribal Department and the Social Justice Department.