A 90-member team of medical investigators will embark on a multidisciplinary and multimodal research on tribal health in a pilot project starting from 18 villages in east Vidarbha region of Maharashtra, an official said. The research called ‘Blossom’ will be carried out under the mentorship of the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) to study the prevalence of eight common diseases among the tribal population due to their lifestyle and provide solutions for it.

Talking to PTI, MUHS’ regional coordinator Dr Sanjeev Chaudhary said India’s tribal population is the third largest in the world and adivasis form 8.7 per cent of the country’s population. “Despite the government’s best efforts and schemes, tribals have not been weaned off of their old lifestyle, which involves superstitions, taboo practices and certain food habits, among other things,” Dr Chaudhary said.