Background: Every society has its own traditional beliefs and practices related to health care. Some practices are effective whereas others may be harmful or ineffective. These beliefs and practices are linked to culture, environment and education. Health workers must have concern for the community's cultural values and beliefs so that they can utilize the harmless practices for effective use as well as eliminate harmful practices. The study's objectives were to explore the Muthuvan tribals of Annamalais in the Western Ghats perception on health and illness, Identify the health care seeking behavior, and find the relationship between perceptions on health and illness with the study variables. Method: descriptive study was conducted among Muthuvan tribals of Annamalais in the Western Ghats. The study subjects (75) were interviewed through a questionnaire and selected by randomly. Results: Data shows that 57.3 per cent of the respondents stated that they have average level of perception on own health. Majority (70.0%) of the respondents are able to take decision themselves, nearly fifty (48.0%) of the respondents stated that during the illness they were treated themselves in nursing homes/clinics and majority (70.7%) of the respondents feeling that diseases are not severe enough. The data also showed that the people of Muthuvan tribals of Annamalais in the western Ghats perceived high health risk for the health and illness due to the using unsafe water & food, multiple sex partner, poor diet, overwork and immunity. Further, the result revealed that that there is a no significant association between perception on health and illness and selected variables because the p-values of all variables are more than 0.05. Conclusion: The study shows the impact of socio-cultural behavior on health and illness among Muthuvan tribals of Annamalais in the Western Ghats, either directly or indirectly.
Key words: Health, Illness, Socio-cultural behaviour, Tribals
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