Gamo's cultural forum-Dubussha as a tool for social change communication: Illiteracy and child labor abuse as a case in point.

This study investigated the instrumental potential of Gamo's traditional dialogue forum-Dubussha-for social change communication in general, using illiteracy and child labour abuse as a case in point. The study went on to analyze the motive that when traditions pave the way for new ways of life and thinking, changes are more applicable and transformative. As a result, this study sought to apply current values in a more local context and discovered that using culture as a vehicle for transformation yielded positive results. The two most popular tactics used to satisfy the study's goal of gathering information from largely alternatively educated respondents were intensive interviews and focus group discussions. Since cultural societies' skills, expertise, and knowledge are intricately related to their culture, the qualitative technique was effective in understanding and testing the research questions of this study. According to the study's objectives, three different focus group discussions (FGDs) were held in the Dita, Daramalo, and Chencha districts. Participants in the focus groups ranged in age, gender, and cultural background. Each FGD session included a diverse variety of participants, including women, men, student participants, and cultural leaders (Haleqas and/or Hudugas (opinion leaders). The FGD had 27 participants until it was full. Participants, facilitators, and in-depth interviewees were also purposively chosen. Finally, the study's findings indicated that Dubussha had a large potential for social change communication, particularly to reduce illiteracy and child labour abuse. Given that the cultural communication forum, Dubussha, is the major pillar of Gamo society's psychosocial structure, its use as an effective instrument for social change communication produced significant outcomes. Despite the gender and age differences in the application of "Dubussha," the outcome, acceptance, and glory of Dubussha among the Gamo community remained consistent.

Child labour in cocoa growing regions of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire: an analysis of academic attainment in children engaged in hazardous labour.

This paper examines the relationship between child labour and educational attainment and explores the distinction between harmful and non-harmful agricultural cocoa work. We conduct a secondary analysis of data on 3,338 children who reported attending school in 2018 across cocoa growing regions of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. To address differences between harmful and non-harmful child labour, we differentiated work completed by a child by hazardous activity engagement. These groups of child labour were then modelled against educational attainment, defined by a whether or not the child needed to repeat a class. We then conducted mediation analysis to assess whether injury mediates this relationship. Our results show that hazardous child labour increases the odds of repeating a class and work-related injury compared to non-hazardous labour. The effect of hazardous child labour on academic attainment was also found to be mediated by work-related injuries by 14%. Educational attainment is associated with hazardous labour activities and the odds of injury and not the act of participation in agricultural labour alone. Programmes based on strong measures of harmful work will foster better protection for children who are most at risk and may inform global debates around the benefits versus the risks of child labour.

Maltreatment of child labourers in Bangladesh: Prevalence and characteristics of perpetrators.

Background: Child labourers are highly prone to maltreatment mostly perpetrated by members of their immediate family as well as employers and co-workers. This maltreatment is considered to be a serious public health issue. However, little is known about this form of violence. Purpose: This study aimed to explore the views of key informants on the prevalence and attributes of perpetrators of the maltreatment of child labourers in Bangladesh. Methods: The key experts were paediatricians, journalists, academics, and government bureaucrats such as policy makers and Non-Government Organisation employees working in the area of child abuse or labour relations. Interviews were purposefully conducted via TEAMS with 17 expert participants. A thematic analysis using NVivo was used to analyse the data. Results: The key informants were of the opinion that the prevalence of the maltreatment of child labourers was unknown. However, they were of the view that physical maltreatment of child labourers occurred between 70% and 100% of the time, while emotional abuse and neglect was estimated to be 100% followed by 50% for financial exploitation. Child maltreatment is more likely to occur in informal workplace environments. Biological and foster parents were considered the primary perpetrators, while employers and adult co-workers were considered secondary perpetrators. Perpetrators of child labour maltreatment were often characterized as having a history of childhood maltreatment themselves, a lack of knowledge of social awareness and parenting, and suffer from economic difficulties. Conclusion: The finding also calls into question the validity of key informant interviewing. Only the journalists, academics and medical experts had first-hand knowledge of the maltreatment of child labourers with experts in the NGO sector and government policy makers lacking detailed knowledge of the field.

Ecological aspects shaping child labour in Tanzania's artisanal and small-scale gold mines: A qualitative inquiry.

Background: This study describes factors promoting child labour in small-scale gold mines in rural Tanzania, a pernicious problem despite the country's adoption of laws and regulations intended to curb it. Methods: Employing a phenomenological design, we collected qualitative data using focus group discussions and in-depth interviews to describe factors promoting children's engagement in small-scale gold mining activities in three districts in Tanzania. Data analysis applied constructs from the ecological system theory. Results: Child labour was reported to be common in the small-scale gold mines and abject household poverty was reported as the main factor pushing children to work in the mines because of their respective households' inability to provide for their basic needs. Other underlying factors stated included divorce and family disintegration and limited diversification of income-earning activities. The migratory nature of artisanal mining led some miner parents to not prioritize the education of their children. Furthermore, peer pressure and parental influence, especially of mothers, promoted entry into mining or reinforced its continuation. Early socialisation of children as future miners and lack of perspective and societal expectations of other life trajectories contributed to persistent child labour within mining communities. At the government level, the study participants mentioned poor reinforcement of mining regulations as another factor that legitimised child labour in the mines. Conclusion: Since factors promoting child labour in small-scale gold mines are multifaceted, efforts for its elimination require a multi-layered approach aimed at addressing the root-causes at the micro-, meso-, exo- and macro-level systems.

The Epidemiology of Young People's Work and Experiences of Violence in Nine Countries: Evidence from the Violence against Children Surveys.

Globally, 497 million young people (15-24 years) are in the labour force. The current research on work and violence indicates reciprocal links across the life course. This study draws on data from 35,723 young people aged 13-24 years in the Violence Against Children Surveys (VACS) in nine countries to describe the epidemiology of work in order to explore associations between (1) current work and violence and (2) childhood violence and work in a hazardous site in young adulthood. The prevalence of past-year work among 13-24-year-olds was highest in Malawi: 82.4% among young men and 79.7% among young women. In most countries, young women were more likely to be working in family or domestic dwellings (range: 23.5-60.6%) compared to men (range: 8.0-39.0%), while men were more likely to be working on a farm. Work in a hazardous site was higher among young men compared to women in every country. Among children aged 13-17 years, we found significant positive associations between past-year work and violence among girls in three countries (aORs between 2.14 and 3.07) and boys in five countries (aORs 1.52 to 3.06). Among young people aged 18-24 years, we found significant positive associations among young women in five countries (aORs 1.46 to 2.61) and among young men in one country (aOR 2.62). Associations between childhood violence and past-year work in a hazardous site among 18-24-year-olds were significant in one country among girls and in three countries among boys. Continued efforts are needed to prevent hazardous work, improve work environments, and integrate violence prevention efforts into workplaces.

Threat biases associate with anxiety and depression in physically-abused young people with a history of child labour.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Young people who have experienced early-life maltreatment preferentially attend to threat and draw more threatening interpretations. In turn, these threat biases may explain elevated risk for lifelong anxiety and/or depression. We investigated whether adolescent labourers with a history of physical abuse showed threat biases relative to non-abused labourers, and whether these threat biases associated with anxiety and depression. METHODS: 100 young people (aged 13-18 years, 64% female) from Nepal rescued from illegal child work were assessed for childhood maltreatment and anxiety and/or depression disorders. Participants completed an emotional visual search task (to measure attention engagement of positive versus negative faces) and an ambiguous scenarios questionnaire (to measure the endorsement of negative versus benign interpretations). RESULTS: Seventy young people reported a history of physical (and emotional) abuse. They were more likely to meet symptom thresholds for depression, and marginally, for anxiety disorders than non-physically abused participants. Abused and non-abused participants did not differ on attention engagement/disengagement of threat or on interpretational style. Abused participants with anxiety were slower to disengage from negative faces to engage with a positive face than non-anxious abused participants. Abused participants with depression endorsed more negative interpretations of ambiguous situations than those without depression. LIMITATIONS: The cross-sectional design limits our ability to infer whether threat biases reflect risk markers of psychopathology. CONCLUSIONS: If threat biases are shown to confer risk for anxiety and depression in future studies, they could be targeted in mental health prevention programs for these vulnerable young people.

Children's lives in an era of school closures: Exploring the implications of COVID-19 for child labour in Ghana.

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. Subsequently, governments worldwide implemented strict regimes of lockdowns and school closures to contain the transmission of the virus. Ghana's government on 15 March 2020 also announced a lockdown and closure of schools, lasting up till January 2021. Against this backdrop, the paper examined the implications of school closures on child labour in Ghana. Qualitative data for the study were collected between October 2020 to February 2021 in a small rural community in northern Ghana. Findings from 16 semi-structured interviews with schoolchildren aged 8-13 years show how school closures have meant that children from contexts of poverty: (a) are driven into child labour as they are either forced to accompany their parents to work on farms or sell foodstuff by the roadside; and thus, ultimately (b) engage in no learning during the lockdown period.

Are Child Domestic Workers Worse Off than Their Peers? Comparing Children in Domestic Work, Child Marriage, and Kinship Care with Biological Children of Household Heads: Evidence from Zimbabwe.

Child domestic work is a hidden form of child labour driven by poverty and social norms. However, little is known about the situations of child domestic workers. This study aims to describe and analyse gender-specific working conditions, health, and educational outcomes among hidden child domestic workers (CDWs) living in third-party homes relative to married children, biological children, and other children in kinship care. Data from the 2019 Zimbabwe Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) were analysed. Descriptive statistics and bivariable logistic regression were used to describe frequency and estimated prevalence. Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) were used to identify exposures and inform the selection of covariates. Multivariable logistic regression models were fitted to estimate the effect of each exposure variable. The prevalence of CDWs was 1.5% and CDWs were mainly girls and living in much wealthier households with more educated household heads while married girls were living in much poorer households. When compared among girls themselves, being a CDW was significantly associated with having a functional disability, while married girls were more frequently engaged in hazardous working conditions. We provide the first intersectional analysis comparing work, violence, and health outcomes among CDWs, married children and other children. Child protection measures are needed to safeguard children in domestic work and marriages.

Mistreatment at work and musculoskeletal pain in male and female working Syrian refugee children.

Since the Syrian war in 2011, Syrian refugees in Lebanon have continued to experience socioeconomic deprivation, resorting many families to child labour as a form of survival. Adopting a gender-sensitive analysis, this study explores the relationship between psychosocial adversities and musculoskeletal pain among male and female Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, using data from a cross-sectional survey of working Syrian refugee children between 8 and 18 years in informal tented settlements in the Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. The majority of working children (4090) worked in agriculture (75.8%). Of the children who experienced musculoskeletal pain, 27.4% worked despite severe pain, three-quarters of the children worked under time pressure, over a third (37.4%) were physically abused at work, and the majority (95.8%) had a good relationship with their co-workers. Logistic regression models revealed a significant association between exposure to psychosocial stressors at work and musculoskeletal pain among male and female children.Practitioner summary: This study is the first to obtain direct testimony on musculoskeletal pain and psychosocial risk factors, among Syrian refugee children in Lebanon. Using a gender-sensitive analysis, the survey results demonstrated associations between exposure to psychosocial stressors and musculoskeletal pain among male/female Syrian refugee children enduring strenuous working conditions.

Evaluations of Interventions with Child Domestic Workers: A Rapid Systematic Review.

Little is known about interventions to support the education, skills training, and health of female child domestic workers (CDWs). This rapid systematic literature review followed PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO registration: CRD42019148702) and summarises peer-reviewed and grey literature on health, education, and economic interventions for CDWs and interventions targeting employers. We searched six electronic databases and purposively searched grey literature. We included observational studies, which included an intervention, quasi-experimental, and experimental studies. Two reviewers independently screened articles. Data were extracted on intervention description, inputs, activities, type of evaluation, outcomes, effect size or impact where applicable, limitations, and ethical considerations. All studies were quality appraised. We identified eight papers from five studies. Six papers reported on health-related outcomes, two on education-related outcomes, and three on economic outcomes. No evaluations of employer-related interventions were identified. Only one intervention specifically targeted CDWs. Others included CDWs in their sample but did not disaggregate data for CDWs. Findings suggest that the evaluated interventions had a limited impact on CDW's health, education, and economic outcomes. While it appears feasible to reach CDWs with outreach interventions, further work is needed to improve the consistency of their effectiveness and their ability to improve CDWs' current and future prospects.

Forgotten children: a socio-technical systems analysis of the 2004 and 2015 forced child labour reports from Indian cottonseed farms.

Using a systems analysis approach, the authors analyse forced child labour incidents in Indian cottonseed farms in the years 2003/04 and 2014/15, and explore the role played by human factors in contributing to the illegal use of child labour in the Indian agri-food sector. National policies on labour welfare and rights are reviewed through the case studies used as a lens to explore wider issues associated with forced child labour in supply chains. The study highlights the evolution of organised crime in India with regards to the reliance on forced child labour, using the four conceptual dimensions of modern slavery established by the UK Home Office in 2017. The study does identify limitations and flaws associated with designing policies based on a "work-as-imagined" philosophy and demonstrates how the use of maturity modelling can explore how exploitation, corruption and organised crime is framed and can become more formalised over time.

The Role of Stomach Infrastructures on Children's Work and Child Labour in Africa: Systematic Review.

Child labour remains a prevalent global concern, and progress toward eradicating harmful children's work appears to have stalled in the African continent and henceforth, integrated social policy intervention is still required to address the problem. Among several forms of social policy interventions, stomach infrastructure (i.e., in-kind and/or cash transfers) have been a key policy approach to support vulnerable families to lighten households' resources burden, which forces them to consider child labour as a coping strategy. There is growing evidence on the impacts of these programs in child labour. However, this evidence is often mixed regarding children's work outcomes, and the existing studies hardly describe such heterogeneous outcomes from the child-sensitive approach. To this end, a systematic literature search was conducted for studies in African countries. From 743 references retrieved in this study, 27 studies were included for the review, and a narrative approach has been employed to analyse extracted evidence. Results from the current study also demonstrate a mixed effect of in-kind and cash transfers for poor households on child labour decisions. Hence, the finding from the current review also demonstrates a reduced participation of children in paid and unpaid work outside the household due to in-kind and cash transfers to poor households, but children's time spent in economic and non-economic household labour and farm and non-farm labour, which are detrimental to child health and schooling, has been reported increasing due to the program interventions. The question remains how these programs can effectively consider child-specific and household-related key characteristics. To this end, a child-sensitive social protection perspective has been applied in this study to explain these mixed outcomes to inform policy design.

Prevalence and predictors of child labour among junior public secondary school students in Enugu, Nigeria: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Globally, millions of children are involved in child labour. However, low- and middle-income countries are mostly hit. This study examined the predictors of child labour among public secondary school students in the Enugu metropolis. METHODS: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study of 332 junior secondary students attending public schools in Enugu metropolis, Nigeria. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the six secondary schools and the students that participated in the study. Data collection was done from September to October 2018. Pretested structured, interviewer-administered questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire contained information on the sociodemographic variables, the kind of work done by the respondents and the number of working hours spent weekly. UNICEF's standard indicator for child labour was used to estimate the prevalence of child labour. Logistic regression was used to identify socioeconomic predictors of child labour. RESULTS: The prevalence of overall child labour was 71.7%, while for domestic and economic child labour prevalence were 52.1 and 34.0%, respectively. About 35.2% of the respondents worked under hazardous conditions while 8% were forced to work. Two-thirds (236, 65%) of the respondents who have heard about child labour perceived it as wrong. The child labourers mainly worked to render financial assistance to their parents. The predictors of child labour were class of study (AOR = 2.208 (95% CI: 1.199-4.066) and weekly income earned (AOR = 0.316 (95% CI: 0.176-0.567). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of child labour among junior students in public secondary schools in Enugu is high, and is predicted by the level of schooling and income earned. Economic and social reforms could contribute to addressing the predictors of child labour.

Violence and abuse among working children in urban and suburban areas of lower Sindh, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Child labourers are exposed to an insecure environment and higher risk of violence. Violence among child labourers is an under-studied phenomenon which requires contextual assessment. AIMS: We applied Bronfenbrenner's ecological model (micro-, exo- and macro-system) to understand the interplay of individual, community, societal and policy context fuelling violence. METHODS: Focus group discussions and family ethnographies of child-labourers working in common occupational sectors of suburban areas of Sindh were carried out to gain in-depth understanding of their immediate environment and abuse (micro-system). Frequency of emotional, physical and sexual violence (5-14 years; n = 634) was also determined. Indepth interviews with employers (exo-system, n = 4) and key-informant-interviews of prominent stakeholders in Pakistan (macro-system, n = 4) working against labour/violence were carried out Thematic-content analysis was performed using MAXQDA, version 8.0. RESULTS: We estimated that 21%, 19% and 9% of children suffered from emotional, physical and sexual violence respectively. Child labourers' interviews indicated the existence of all forms of abuse at home and in the workplace; sexual violence by grandfathers was highlighted (micro-system). Children reported frequent scolding and insults in the workplace along with physical violence that could be fatal (exo-system). The legal environment of violence in Pakistan was considered deficient as it did not address the hidden forms (touching, kissing, etc.; macro-system). CONCLUSION: We documented that all forms of violence were rampant among the child labourers, and improved efforts and comprehensive legislation is direly needed to alleviate the situation.

The Health Impacts of Hazardous Chemical Exposures among Child Labourers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Of 218 million working children worldwide, many are suspected to be exposed to hazardous chemicals. This review aims to synthesize reported evidence over the last two decades on chemical exposure and adverse health consequences in children labourers in low- and middle-income Countries (LMIC). Included studies investigated health outcomes related to chemical exposures among child labourers aged 5-18 in LMIC. Twenty-three papers were selected for review, focusing on pesticides (n = 5), solvents (n = 3), metals (n = 13) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (n = 2). Adverse health effects identified among child labourers included abnormal biomarkers, for example elevated blood and urine chemical concentrations, neurobehavioural deficits and neurological symptoms, mental health issues, oxidative stress and DNA damage, poor growth, asthma, and hypothyroidism. Workplace exposure to chemicals has pernicious health effects on child labourers. Large research gaps exist, in particular for long-term health impacts through chronic conditions and diseases with long latencies. A sizeable disease burden in later life is likely to be directly attributable to chemicals exposures. We urge national and international agencies concerned with child labour and occupational health, to prioritize research and interventions aiming to reduce noxious chemical exposures in workplaces where children are likely to be present.

Suitability of Measurement Tools for Assessing the Prevalence of Child Domestic Work: A Rapid Systematic Review.

Child domestic work (CDW) is a hidden form of child labour. Globally, there were an estimated 17.2 million CDWs aged 5-17 in 2012, but there has been little critical analysis of methods and survey instruments used to capture prevalence of CDW. This rapid systematic review identified and critically reviewed the measurement tools used to estimate CDWs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries, following PRISMA guidelines (PROSPERO registration: CRD42019148702). Fourteen studies were included. In nationally representative surveys, CDW prevalence ranged from 17% among 13-24-year-old females in Haiti to 2% of children aged 10-17 in Brazil. Two good quality studies and one good quality measurement tool were identified. CDW prevalence was assessed using occupation-based methods (n = 9/14), household roster (n = 7) and industry methods (n = 4). Six studies combined approaches. Four studies included task-based questions; one study used this method to formally calculate prevalence. The task-based study estimated 30,000 more CDWs compared to other methods. CDWs are probably being undercounted, based on current standard measurement approaches. We recommend use of more sensitive, task-based methods for inclusion in household surveys. The cognitive and pilot testing of newly developed task-based questions is essential to ensure comprehension. In analyses, researchers should consider CDWs who may be disguised as distant or non-relatives.

Prevalence and potential consequences of child labour in India and the possible impact of COVID-19 - a contemporary overview.

Child labour is a global phenomenon occurring predominantly in countries with lower socioeconomic status and resources. Societal and familial poverty, loss or incapacitation/illness of parents, lack of social security and protection, and ignorance about the value of, or limited access to, education are among the myriad reasons for the involvement of children in the workforce. Child labour is a barrier to the development of individual children and their society and economy. Global estimates indicate that 152 million children (64 million girls and 88 million boys) are working, accounting for almost one in 10 of all children worldwide. Currently the COVID-19 health pandemic and the resulting economic and labour market consequences are having a major impact on people's lives and livelihoods. Unfortunately, impoverished families and their children are often the first to suffer, which may push many more vulnerable children into child labour situations. Child labour in India is more prevalent than in many other countries, with approximately 10 million children actively engaged in, or seeking, work. This paper focuses on the issue of child labour, its causes and its ill effects. Further, it also reviews the international legal framework relating to child labour and legislative issues in India. There is clearly an urgent need for this issue to be effectively addressed and resolved.

Youth with disabilities are more likely than their peers to engage in hazardous child labour.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about the extent to which children and adolescents with disabilities are exposed to child labour. OBJECTIVE: To estimate prevalence rates and adjusted rate ratios of exposure to child labour among children and adolescents with/without disability in middle- and low-income countries and to determine whether these rates vary between functional limitations associated with disability. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Nationally representative samples involving 142,499 children aged 5-14 from 15 countries. METHODS: Secondary analysis of data collected in UNICEF's Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys. RESULTS: Overall children and youth with disability were not at significantly greater risk of exposure than children without disability to child labour when demographic and contextual factors were taken into account. However, children and youth with disability were at significantly greater risk of exposure than children without disability to hazardous child labour (adjusted relative risk [ARR] = 1.15 [1.10-1.21], P < 0.001). Specifically, children and youth with impairments related to poorer mental health or cognitive functioning were at significantly greater risk of exposure to hazardous child labour (e.g., ARR for learning impairment = 1.27 [1.14-1.42], P < 0.001). In contrast, children with impairments related to sensory functioning, mobility and expressive communication were at no greater risk of exposure than children with no disability. CONCLUSIONS: Children and youth with disability are at greater risk of exposure to hazardous child labour than children with no disability in middle- and low-income countries. Responses to eradicate hazardous child labour need to take account of the situation of children and youth with disability.

O trabalho infantojuvenil e a ausência de dados: percepção da rede de proteção / Children's labour and lack of data: perception of the protection network / Trabajo infantil y falta de datos: percepción de la red de protección

Este artigo tem como objetivo identificar as características do trabalho infantojuvenil a partir da rede de proteção dos direitos das crianças e adolescentes. Participaram da pesquisa 35 atores sociais que atuam na Rede de proteção dos direitos da criança e do adolescente de uma cidade mediana na região central do Tocantins. Utilizou-se de um questionário composto por questões abertas e fechadas e para análise dos dados, a Análise Temática de Bardin. A partir da análise, a maioria dos atores sociais respondeu que a instituição em que atuavam não tinha dados sobre o trabalho infantojuvenil, apenas dois afirmaram que tinham registro de trabalho infantojuvenil; no entanto, quase todos os atores sociais entrevistados já viram ou têm conhecimento de crianças e adolescentes em situação de trabalho. Um dado que chama a atenção é que a maioria dos atores sociais considera o trabalho infantojuvenil bom, como dignificante e que possibilita as crianças e adolescentes criarem responsabilidades, contanto que não interfira nos estudos e não ofereça riscos à saúde.(AU)

The objective of this paper is to identify the characteristics of child labour based on the protection network for the rights of children and adolescents. The research included 35 social actors who work in the Network for the protection of the rights of children and adolescents from a medium-sized city in the central region of Tocantins. A questionnaire composed of open and closed questions and for the analysis of the data the Bardin Thematic Analysis was used. From the data, most social actors answered that the institution they worked in did not have data on child and youth work, only two stated that they had child and youth work records, however, almost all social actors interviewed have seen or have knowledge of children and adolescents in work situations. A fact that draws attention is that most social actors consider child and youth work to be good, dignified and that allows children and adolescents to create responsibilities, as long as it does not interfere with studies and does not offer health risks.(AU)

Este artículo tiene como objetivo identificar las características del trabajo infantil y juvenil basado en la red de protección de los derechos de niños, niñas y adolescentes. Participaron en la investigación 35 actores sociales que trabajan en la Red para la protección de los derechos de niños, niñas y adolescentes de una ciudad mediana en la región central de Tocantins. Se utilizó un cuestionario compuesto por preguntas abiertas y cerradas y para el análisis de los datos se utilizó el Análisis temático de Bardin. A partir de los datos, la mayoría de los actores sociales respondieron que la institución en la que trabajaban no tenía datos sobre el trabajo infantil y juvenil, solo dos declararon que tenían registros de trabajo infantil y juvenil, sin embargo, casi todos los actores sociales entrevistados han visto o tienen conocimiento de los niños. y adolescentes en situaciones laborales. Un hecho que llama la atención es que la mayoría de los actores sociales consideran que el trabajo infantil y juvenil es bueno, digno y que permite a los niños y adolescentes crear responsabilidades, siempre que no interfiera con los estudios y no ofrezca riesgos para la salud.(AU)

Malnutrition and food insecurity in child labourers in Sindh, Pakistan: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Child labour is common in low- and middle-income countries. Although child labour is widespread in Pakistan, no data are available on the health of child labourers. AIMS: This study aimed to assess the food security, food intake and nutritional status of child labourers aged 5-14 years working in lower Sindh, Pakistan. METHODS: Child labourers aged 5-14 years working in agriculture, manufacturing industry, hotels and restaurants, domestic work and migrant child labourers working in vegetable markets were recruited using a respondent-driven sampling technique. Sociodemographic and nutrition information was obtained by an interviewer questionnaire. The children's height and weight were measured to assess stunting (height-for-age z scores less than -2) and wasting (weightfor- height z scores less than -2). RESULTS: A total of 634 child labourers were included: 184 worked in agriculture, 120 in industry, 67 in hotels and restaurants, 63 in domestic work and 200 were migrant child labourers. Overall, 15.5% of the children were stunted and 30.0% were wasted. The prevalence of stunting was highest in children working in agriculture (27.2%) and the prevalence of wasting was highest in migrant child workers (35.0%). About half the children (51.1%) were suffering from food insecurity. Food inadequacy was mainly in consumption of vegetables/potatoes (98% of the children had inadequate intake), legumes (97%), fruits (96%), meat/ poultry (95%) and milk/dairy products (82%). CONCLUSION: The nutritional status and food insecurity of the child labourers of Pakistan are comparable with the general population, highlighting the grave situation of the country with regard to food security.