Health Survey In the present era, health surveys play a vital role in determining the health status of the population and it is a procedure in disclosing the prevalent health issues of the society in relation to other variables. Health surveys generally include measures of risk factors, health behaviours, and non-health determinants or correlates of health such as socioeconomic status. The range of measures that can be included is wide and varies by survey. Age, gender, and race/ethnicity are the basic demographic variables that are included in health surveys. Socioeconomic determinants of health include education, income, geographic region, and place of residence. Strong health differentials are found across these variables, and public programs are designed to eliminate these health disparities. However, the relationship between these measures and health is often complex. Social factors can act as causal agents or they can be affected by health. In order to identify causal relationships between determinants and outcomes, longitudinal designs are needed. The causal pathways are more easily teased apart if health surveys can include a broader array of potential determinants of health (biological, psychological, and social). Tobacco use, alcohol use, diet, and physical exercise are common health behaviours that are included in health surveys. As in the case of health status, these concepts present difficult measurement challenges. Obtaining valid information on behaviours such as diet, smoking, and exercise requires significant survey time. Diet is particularly difficult to capture in the survey context. The information obtained would then be linked to external data bases that contain the nutritional content of foods. These databases are expensive and time consuming to develop. There is also a tendency for respondents to underreport negative behaviours such as smoking, and this is even more of a problem for surveys that obtain information on illegal activities such as drug use. Survey procedures have been developed to improve reporting of health behaviours such as maximizing privacy to encourage accurate reporting and developing aids to enhance memory. By keeping this in mind, Sarada Krishna Homoeopathic Medical College has follows Health Survey as a healthy practice of the institution from the 2004-05 onwards. Department of Community Medicine and National Service Scheme of Sarada Krishna Homoeopathic Medical College jointly organises Health Survey annually in Kanniyakumari District. 1 Sarada Krishna Homoeopathic Medical College Sarada Krishna Homoeopathic Medical College was established in 2000, as a self- financing institution, under K.V. Education Trust with the intention to provide value based, research oriented medical education in Homoeopathy and dedicated patient care to the needy and poor in the neighbourhood. The institution presently offers BHMS, PG and research programmes in five areas of specialisation namely Organon of Medicine, Materia Medica, Practice of Medicine, Repertory and Paediatrics. Even though, the college is situated at Kulasekharam, it provides homoeopathic health care throughout the district to the needy without any disparity such as rural or urban, remote or hilly, privileged or under privileged, rich or poor through the Collegiate Hospital or Peripheral Health Centers. Institution provides training to homoeopaths for conducting health survey using standardised questionnaire and analysed and interpreted accordingly. Usually, the analysed reports were handed over to the district administration for policy decision and further action. About Kanyakumari District Kanyakumari was part of the Travancore Samasthanam (Kerala) till the early forties of the 20th century. After Independence, it remained as part of Travancore Cochin State until the realignment of districts on linguistic basis. Tamil speaking majority had to struggle to merge with Tamil Nadu and finally Kanyakumari District came into existences on the 1st of November 1956, with its head quarters at Nagercoil. Kanyakumari is the southernmost district of Tamil Nadu. The district lies between 77° 15’ and 77° 36’ of the eastern longitudes and 8° 03’ and 8° 35’ of the northern latitudes. The district is bound by Tirunelveli District on the north and the east. The south-eastern boundary is the Gulf of Mannar. On the south and the south-west, the boundaries are the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea. On the west and north-west it is bound by Kerala. In Kanyakumari three seas merge, which symbolizes unity. Moreover it is a place of pilgrimage. Revenue Administrative set-up of Kanyakumari District Kanyakumari District consists of two revenue divisions, namely Nagercoil and Padmanabhapuram, each headed by a Revenue Divisional Officer. The Nagercoil Revenue Division consists of two Taluk namely Agasteeswaram and Thovalai. Nagercoil is the headquarters of Agasteeswaram Taluk and Boothapandi is the headquarters of Thovalai Taluk. The Padmanabhapuram Revenue Division consists of four Taluks namely Kalkulam, Thiruvattar, Vilavancode and Killiyoor. Thuckalay and Kuzithurai are headquarters respectively for Kalkulam Taluk and Vilavancode Taluk. Similarly, Thiruvattar and 2 Tholyavattam are head quarters respectively for Thiruvattar and Killiyoor Taluk. These Taluks are administered by Tahsildars. The district owns four Municipalities namely Nagercoil, Padmanabhapuram, Colachel and Kuzhithurai. and nine development blocks. Six blocks Melpuram, Munchirai, Killiyoor, Thiruvattar, Thuckalai and Kurunthencode form a part of Padmanabhapuram Development Division and the remaining three Agastheeswaram, Rajakkamangalam and Thovalai come under Nagercoil Development Division. There are 55 Town Panchayats in this district whereas there are only 529 Town Panchayats throughout the State. The District comprises in six Assembly segments and one Parliament Constituency. The District is purely Agriculture oriented and its economy solely depends on Agricultural production. It is industrially very backward indeed Revenue Divisions Nagercoil Padmanabhapuram Taluks Kalkulam Vilavancode Agastheeswaram Thovalai Thiruvattar Killiyoor Development Blocks Thiruvattar Melpuram Agastheeswaram Munchirai Thovalai Thuckalay Rajakkamangalam Kurunthancode Killiyoor Kanyakumari District Revenue Divisions, Taluks and Blocks Among the six Taluks, Thovalai and Thiruvattar differentiates itself from other Taluks by its topography that has long tracts of hilly and paddy fields and no coastal area in itself. Kanyakumari district has six legislative constituencies they are Kanyakumari, Nagercoil, Padmanabhapuram, Colachel, Killiyoor, and Vilavancode. Details are given in table-1. Table - 1 Details of Revenue Divisions in Kanyakumari District Sl. No. Category Number 1. Firkas 18 2. Revenue Villages 81 3. Village Panchayats 99 4. Town panchayats 55 3 5. Municipalities 4 6. Taluks 6 7. Panchayat Unions 9 8. Revenue Divisions 2 Based on physiographic, the district can be divided into three natural divisions. The north-eastern portion of the Thovalai Taluk constitutes a mountainous division with spurs from Western Ghats running into it, called High Lands. The west and South-West portion of the District is the sea coast which is flat and fairly fertile and called the Low lands. Between the mountain range (high lands) and the sea coast (low lands) there exists a strip of undulating valley, the midlands with a few streams available for cultivation. Vital Statistics S.No Details Number 1 Birth 33308 2 Death 14464 3 Infant Death 165 4 Birth Rate (per 1000 Population) 11.05 5 Death Rate (per 1000 Population) 6.2 6 Infant Mortality (per 1000 live birth) 9.2 7 No. of deaths of women due to problems related to child birth At the time of Delivery 7 During Pregnancy 0 After Child Birth 0 List of Town Panchayat List of Town Panchayat are as follows: Name of the Town Sl. no 15. Kaliyakkavilai Panchayat 16. Kallukuttam 1. Agastheeswaram 17. Kanniyakumari 2. Alagappapuram 18. Kappiyarai 3. Alur 19. Karungal 4. Anjugrammam 20. Keezhkulam 5. Arumanai 21. Killiyoor 6. Asaripallam 22. Kollancode 7. Attoor 23. Kothanallur 8. Azhagiapandipuram 24. Kottaram 9. Boothapandy 25. Kulasekharam 10. Edaicode 26. Kumarpuram 11. Eraniel 27. Manavalakurichy 12. Ezhudesam 28. Mandaikadu 13. Ganapathipuram 29. Marungur 14. Kadayal 30. Mulagumudu 4 31. Mylaudy 44. Thenthamaraikulam 32. Nalloor 45. Therur 33. Neyyoor 46. Thingalnagar 34. Pacode 47. Thirparappu 35. Palappallam 48. Thiruvattar 36. Palugal 49. Thiruvithancode 37. Ponmanai 50. Unnamalaikadai 38. Puthalam 51. Valvaithankoshtam 39. Puthukkadai 52. Vellimalai 40. Reethapuram 53. Verkilambi 41. Suchindrum 54. Vilavur 42. Thazhakudy 55. Villukuri 43. Thengampudur Demographic Details of Village Panchayat Demographic details of Village Panchayat are provided as follows; Sl. No. of Total Total Total Total SC SC Total ST Panchayat Union ST Female No. Village Population Male Female SC Male Female ST Male 1 Agastheeswaram 12 43,632 21,745 21,887 3,721 1,836 1,885 96 51 45 2 Thovalai 16 61,765 30,665 31,100 7,313 3,667 3,646 282 144 138 3 Rajakkamangalam 12 88,200 43,734 44,466 4,891 2,407 2,484 36 20 16 4 Thackalai 7 57,180 28,468 28,712 2,419 1,224 1,195 21 8 13 5 Kurunthancode 9 65,282 32,902 32,380 1,947 992 955 26 14 12 6 Thiruvattaru 10 70,834 35,270 35,564 1,743 890 853 2,191 1,061 1,130 7 Killiyur 8 56,537 28,135 28,402 851 399 452 127 63 64 8 Munchirai 11 1,27,016 62,997 64,019 1,908 937 971 25 12 13 9 Melpuram 10 75,995 37,268 38,727 1,753 875 878 1,089 511 578 Grand Total 95 6,46,441