On the mountains of Abujmarh spread over the districts of Narainpur, Bijapur and Dantewara live the Maria tribals of Bastar.
This 3,900 square kilometre tract of dark closed region shelters about 6,000 people in some 190 villages.
The Marias are believed to have Mongoloid blood in them. They have a coppery complexion with straight black hair, wide mouth and thick lips. The women are graceful, light in complexion and pretty.
The jewellery Maria women wear is even more exotic. Most of it is hand-made — necklaces made of cane, grass or beads. They decorate their hair with combs made of bamboo and fillets.
On their wrists, they wear a number of loose cylindrical bracelets of aluminium and brass. The men mostly carry a knife called "kaseyeq" which tucked into the loin cloth they wear around their waist.
"The men also wear a small turban sometimes. The women, on the other hand, tie a skirt around their waist which hangs down to the knees. Also they have tattoos on their faces, foreheads, arms and breasts," Sangeeta Narayan, a social activist, says.
However, now the tribal-dominated Chhattisgarh is likely to emerge as a high risk Aids prevalence state in India due to poor awareness and backwardness of the region. It may further snowball into tuberculosis-HIV co-infection. No surprise, TB still causes most deaths in Chhattisgarh.
Moreso because Chhattisgarh shares its geographical borders with Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and Orrisa, which are high AIDS prevalence states.
The jungle here is rich in medicinal plants and herbs, but the medicines made from these never reach the inhabitants of the jungle — the tribals. Inhabitants of the jungle are not part of the market because they don't have money.
If the ailing people do not have money, their only cure is death. "The local administration is not concerned with human life; it is there to sell contracts — contracts for exploiting jungles, for mining, building roads and hospitals," S.K. Sagar, a teacher living in a nearby village, says.
State Tuberculosis Officer Dr D.S. Sonwani says that essential efforts should be enforced for prevention of TB and Aids in the region.
"Tuberculosis and HIV may result into a deadly co-epidemic. The HIV/Aids is a greatest risk factor for the development of active TB and fuels a resurgence of the TB epidemic in areas of high HIV prevalence," Sonwani adds.
Prevention
"Besides coordination of TB and HIV resources, there is a need to strengthen prevention and care networks to sustain TB-HIV services, particularly to improve access to early treatment and care for the HIV-infected," Dr Mahindra Pal, formerly associated with Aids Society, says.
The state health department is likely to enter into an agreement with the National AIDS Control Organisation (Naco) soon for the third phase of implementation of Aids control programmes.
The department believes that control efforts over the linkage between TB and HIV/Aids would then be also seen at the operational levels.
"As of now the fact remains that the state of Chhattisgarh is yet to initiate its serious preparation to meet the frightening challenge of HIV syndrome and its association with TB in Chhattisgarh, particularly the tribal areas," Pal says.
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