Abstract
Background
Indigenous people, although constitute 1.8% of the country’s population, are one of the most deprived communities of Bangladesh in all sectors. This study was conducted to explore the health status and quality of life of indigenous elderly of Bangladesh as there is scarcity of knowledge regarding this.
Methods
A mixed-method approach was deployed on October,2019 in Sylhet-division of Bangladesh. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 400 indigenous elderlies from 8 tea-gardens and ten in-depth-interviews were conducted with health-service providers of tea-garden health-facilities.
Results
Of the indigenous elderly-respondents, majority (79.5%) were suffering from any kind of chronic diseases. Visual difficulty was found predominant (74%) among the chronic conditions, followed by locomotion difficulty (49%) and gastrointestinal problem (41%). Extreme age, being male, living alone and low family income were significantly associated with suffering from chronic conditions. Furthermore, having chronic condition and extreme-age was found to be significantly associated with low quality of life. Health-service providers identified lack of logistical support in health-facilities, economic crisis and lack of awareness as the causes of poor health-status and health-seeking behavior of the indigenous elderly.
Conclusions
Indigenous older men in extreme old age are more vulnerable to adverse health conditions and poor quality of life. Health literacy and health seeking behaviour is poor among indigenous older adults generally and there is a huge gap in the health services and social supports available to them.
Key messages
Indigenous, Older population, Bangladesh.
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