Morbidity profile of Street Sweepers and Scavengers of selected municipalities in Malappuram District : A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Occupational health deals with all aspects of health and safety in the workplace and has a strong focus on primary prevention of hazards. Street sweeping is a lowly and filthy occupation. In developing countries street sweepers and scavengers play important role in solid waste management system. Street sweepers are unaware of the use of protective devices in most of the areas. Unhygienic environment cause acute health risk of respiratory system and eye, accidents, injuries, cuts and wounds, skin infections, and animal bites. The present study intends to assess the morbidity profile of the sweepers and scavengers of Malappuram district by conducting a survey through personal interview method. The design is descriptive cross sectional study with sample of both genders satisfying the inclusion criteria (selected by stratified random sampling technique). The number of sweepers in each municipality is different so proportion based calculation is used for the detection of sample size. The data collected by telephonic interview method using questionnaire of the study of occupational health analysis of conservancy workers analyzed using the chi square test. Among the participants 78% experienced musculoskeletal symptoms, 60% experienced dermatological symptoms and 41% experienced respiratory symptoms. Less than 5% of the participants experience Cough, Cold, Fever, Chickenpox, Leptospirosis, Typhoid, Pneumonia and Dengue. 31% of the workers had headache.