Community identity, poverty, and antimicrobial discontinuation in a Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group in central India: a cross-sectional study of healthcare choice and differentiated stewardship

Background Antimicrobial stewardship in many settings assumes that community antimicrobial misuse reflects low awareness, and favours education-based interventions. Population-level evidence on healthcare seeking and antimicrobial practices in marginalised indigenous groups in low-income and middle-income countries is limited. We examined socioeconomic and identity-related determinants of healthcare-provider choice, antimicrobial awareness, and harmful antimicrobial practices in a tribal population in central India. Methods We did a cross-sectional survey of 1146 adults in the catchment area of Jan Swasthya Sahyog (JSS), a non-profit community health organisation, in Bilaspur and Mungeli dis