Alteration in Leukocyte Subsets and Expressions of FcγR and Complement Receptors among Female Ragpickers in Eastern India

Mondal, Nandan K.; Siddique, Saima; Banerjee, Mohua; Roychoudhury, Sanghita; Mukherjee, Sayali; Slaughter, Mark S.; Lahiri, Twisha; Ray, Manas Ranjan

doi:10.1016/j.shaw.2016.10.004

Cited by 3 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Hematological tests had shown increased white blood cells suggesting inflammation and allergic reactions among SW workers. 25 Biochemical tests among ragpickers had shown that their occupation adversely affects immunity, 40 even causing cytological and genotoxic damage 41 which leads to cancer. Significant airway inflammation was found among women ragpickers making them more vulnerable to chronic diseases compared to a control group of women.…”

Section: Documented Various Types Of Dermatologicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solid waste workers in India and the COVID-19 pandemic: A Review of Intersecting challenges

Ramitha

2023

Int J Occup Saf Health

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Introduction: Municipal garbage/refuse, sludge, industrial and commercial waste, etc. is termed Solid Waste (SW) and those who handle such waste are SW workers. But the COVID-19 pandemic has hit them hard. SW workers play a vital role in waste management to safeguard and promote public health. But they are often unappreciated and the various health risks and vulnerabilities associated with waste handling are overlooked. This study aimed to review the working conditions and morbidities of SW workers highlighting the longstanding challenges before and after the onset of COVID-19 in India. Methods: Databases such as PubMed and Google Scholar were used for the inclusion of articles. Drawing from the literature on the working conditions and morbidities of SW workers in India alongside grey literature and news reports by electronic media during the pandemic, this paper highlights the longstanding challenges of SW workers. Results: The health morbidities and structural challenges due to caste, and class that were reported as being faced by SW workers across the studies have worsened at the onset of COVID-19. There is a multiplying effect of their vulnerability due to the disadvantages of caste and class. Due to power dynamics, they were forced to work without proper wages and appropriate healthcare resources. Many incidents across the country reported stigma and discrimination; poor access and utilization of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) among SW workers resulted in infections and deaths due to the pandemic. Lack of proper data on COVID-19 infected SW workers; lack of proper certification had halted their insurance claims. Conclusion: This paper noted the multiplying effect of long-standing vulnerabilities that were exposed during the pandemic. Proper maintenance of health records and a sustainable employee grievance redressal mechanism are essential. The need of the hour is to focus on strategies to improve their working conditions along with policies to protect their dignity and empower them.

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Section: Documented Various Types Of Dermatologicalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Solid waste workers in India and the COVID-19 pandemic: A Review of Intersecting challenges

Ramitha

2023

Int J Occup Saf Health

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“…Feeling discriminated against and compelled to work as ragpickers to earn their livelihoods, and enduring monotony and repetitiveness on-the-job in addition to pain, bruises, lacerations, abrasions, burns, sprains, headaches, breathlessness, fever (Ojha et While most of the papers focusing on health have examined both male and female ragpickers, Mondal et al (2016Mondal et al ( , 2017, Fulwani et al (2020) and Uplap et al (2014) have focused only on the latter. Mondal et al (2016Mondal et al ( , 2017 have noted that the health of malnourished female ragpickers in Kolkata (and in general, anywhere in the world) who have been diagnosed with oxidative stress, inflammation, blood platelet hyperactivity, genotoxicity and anaemia, is further exacerbated if they avail of wood, dung or charcoal as cooking fuel. Fulwani et al (2020) and Kandasamy et al (2013) have pointed out that a majority of the ragpickers (male and female) can often afford just one meal every day.…”

Section: Topical -What?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The developing world is still far away from embracing the paradigm of gender parity. Female ragpickers -girls and women -lead an extremely challenging existence and some authors have focused on them in their research (Joshi 1998;Mondal et al 2016;Mondal et al 2017;Saikia 2019;Fulwani et al 2020), and urged municipal/private healthcare agencies to monitor their health on a regular basis and provide adequate advice. Focusing on the well-being of women in general is verily a lynchpin for sustainable development; and attaining the SDGs.…”

Section: Who Are Being Addressed and Why?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Rag-Pickers as Benefactors and Beneficiaries of the Sustainable Development Goals: A Brief Literature Review

Govindarajan

2023

seb

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Ragpickers have long led a marginalised, subliminal and deprived existence, and have silently gone about contributing to ‘informal waste recycling’, diverting in many cities and towns, over half of the recyclable wastes from dumpsites to the technosphere. The reviewer has based this paper on 60 peer-reviewed publications spanning a time period of 28 years – from 1995 – 2022, originating from over a dozen different countries, and encompassing the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainability. The discussion has been structured around the six question words – Where/Wherefrom, When, How, What, Why and Who/Whom. While there is no claim of any addition per se being made to the extant body of knowledge, the reviewer would like to describe this as an attempt to simply collate existing knowledge to serve the practical purpose of highlighting the plight of our impoverished, malnourished, oppressed brethren, to elicit appreciation, understanding and support for them, from policymakers in government, CSR personnel from the corporate world, journalists in the media, and most importantly, from the common urban denizens. All these entities can work shoulder to shoulder with the NGOs who have been relentlessly striving to help the rag-pickers to ‘stay afloat’. The reviewer fondly hopes that this will motivate more concerted transdisciplinary applied research predicated on the Sustainable Development Goals – a collaboration among the disciplines of healthcare, sociology, psychology, urban planning, sustainable development, environmental engineering, and even art and poetry.

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“…These vulnerabilities of women waste workers are insufficiently examined in scholarship on gender, labor, informal work, the waste economy, and health systems. Research on the health and well-being of women waste workers is mostly limited to a few discrete studies on occupational health and safety (16)(17)(18). There is a dearth of relational, intersectional, and contextual research that explores and understands the health and well-being concerns and embodied experiences of women waste workers.…”

Section: What We Foundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Isolation in COVID, and COVID in Isolation—Exacerbated Shortfalls in Provision for Women's Health and Well-Being Among Marginalized Urban Communities in India

Josyula

Murthy

Karampudi³

et al. 2022

Front. Glob. Womens Health

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This paper describes the lived experiences of health seeking, health care recourse, and well-being of women waste pickers, a highly marginalized sub-population in urban areas in India, highlighting the intersectionality of gender, socioeconomic and cultural contexts, and occupational hazards that they face, as studied by a research team engaged in participatory action research with waste workers in urban India. We note the impact of the superimposition of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the restrictions on movement and access to livelihoods, social support, and health care, and policies made and enforced in a fragmented manner, on the already deprived conditions of the waste pickers. We reflect on the women waste pickers' practices of health seeking, their access to health care, the provisions made for them and made use of by them, and the support they could tap in protecting and restoring their health. A range of these experiences is illustrated through three case studies. Finally, recommendations are made for better provision for women's health and well-being, and improved preparedness for emergency situations.

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Alteration in Leukocyte Subsets and Expressions of FcγR and Complement Receptors among Female Ragpickers in Eastern India

Cited by 3 publications

References 37 publications

Solid waste workers in India and the COVID-19 pandemic: A Review of Intersecting challenges

Solid waste workers in India and the COVID-19 pandemic: A Review of Intersecting challenges

Rag-Pickers as Benefactors and Beneficiaries of the Sustainable Development Goals: A Brief Literature Review

Isolation in COVID, and COVID in Isolation—Exacerbated Shortfalls in Provision for Women's Health and Well-Being Among Marginalized Urban Communities in India

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