A Community Based Cross-Sectional Study to Assess the Socio-Economic and Health Status of Rag Pickers in Varanasi slums, North India

Background- Rag picking is one of the inferior economic activities in the urban informal sector, largely undertaken by children belonging to weaker sections of society for their survival and for supplementing their family income. Rag picking is one of the most dangerous activities in India. Rag pickers are working in a filthy environment surrounded by dust, dogs, and pigs. They suffer from many diseases, such as respiratory problems, anemia, fever, and other problems which include cuts, rashes, and injuries. Waste pickers are the general term adopted by the 1 st World Conference of Waste Pickers in 2008. Objective- [a] To assess the socio-economic condition of ragpickers in Varanasi, [b] To know the health condition and treatment behavior of ragpickers in Varanasi. Materials and Methods- A community-based descriptive cross-sectional study in which ragpickers reside in the slum area of Varanasi. All men and women present at the time of the interview who were involved in rag picking from the last 6 months were included. Seriously ill men and women were excluded. Since we had no prior knowledge about the proportion of cases (P) so a pilot study was conducted in which prevalence of health problem found in rag pickers in the last 6 months (P) = 0.90. Total estimated sample size is 100. In this study, Simple Random sampling was used. By using this sampling 100 individuals were selected randomly, fulfilling the inclusion criteria. Results-82 (82.0%) rag pickers were not educated in which 75 (91.5%) rag pickers suffered from health problems. Maximum 74 (74.0 %) rag pickers were migrants. Maximum 74 (74.0%) rag pickers were married in which 36 (48.0 %) rag pickers were married between 14- 18 ages. 80 (80.0%) rag pickers had not used any precautionary measure during rag picking in which 73 (91.2%) rag pickers faced health problems. Maximum 39(39.0%) were affected by dust during rag picking. Only 17(17%) ragpickers preferred government hospitals for treatment. 75 (75.0 %) rag pickers were addicted to intoxication in which 66 (88.0%) rag pickers faced health problems. 91 (91%) ragpickers affected by any health problems in the last 6 months in which a maximum of 63.7% of rag pickers suffered from fever, 60.4% of rag pickers complained about injuries, 56.2 % of rag pickers suffered from weakness problems, 52.7% of rag pickers affected by cough problems. There is a highly significance between educational status and any kind of intoxication. Discussion- The literacy level among the rag pickers was 18% which is much lower than the average literacy rate of Varanasi 75.60% (2011census). A study on slum dwellers in Dhaka showed the literacy rate higher than the finding of this study (18 vs 25 %). 28.0% of rag pickers adopted this work because they had no education. There is a high significance between educational status and any kind of intoxication. Chances of intoxication are high when no education among rag pickers. It is highly significant between educational status and health problems of rag pickers in the last 6 months. Uneducated rag pickers were not aware of the health effects.