Abstract: Background
Although the Government has tried to solve the problem of health disparity, some of the tribes in India are extremely marginalized and there are some tribesmen who are under the status of Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) who are facing a tremendous health disparity. Socioeconomic and cultural barriers, inadequate infrastructure and geographical isolation are often the reasons why they do not have access to the most basic health care systems. There were a number of studies on the health condition of tribals in India and those pertaining to PVTGs' utilization of healthcare services were available but these studies were fragmented and region specific/community specific.
Objective
This systematic review and meta-analysis were done with an overall objective to: Synthesis available evidence regarding healthcare utilization pattern and barrier to healthcare access amongst PVTGs in India and Identify the important determinants of healthcare seeking behaviors.
Methods
A systematic search of the studies was conducted on PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, PsycINFO, ASSIA, google scholar, Shodhganga and other related government reports from the years 2016-2026. The research was carried out according to the PRISMA 2020 guidelines and registered in PROSPERO (CRD420261420500). Qualitative, mixed-methods, cohort, and case-control studies of PVTGs were considered to be eligible. Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) Critical Appraisal Tools were used to rate the quality of the studies. For quantitative data, random effects meta-analysis was used for synthesizing the meta-analysis.
Results
The articles included in the review consisted of 110 studies with 78,542 people (of which 84 were included in the meta-analysis). The pooled prevalence of overall healthcare utilization is 52.8% (95% CI: 48.2 to 57.4%). Maternal healthcare utilization was estimated at 51.2% (95% CI: 45.8-56.7%), institutional delivery coverage at 47.8% (95% CI: 41.9-53.7%), and child immunizati
Subham Prasad Sahoo, Manashree Manamukta Naik, Prasanna Kumar Patra (2026);
Healthcare Utilization and Access Barriers among Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) in India: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis;
International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications (IJSRP)
16(7) (ISSN: 2250-3153),
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.29322/IJSRP.16.07.2026.p17504