Health Risk to Scavengers

HEALTH RISKS TO TRASH HOLDERS AND PREVENTION It is the dilemma of situation that many children and grown ups are relegated to a life that is unimaginable for one 's own children, there work is to pick up trash n garbage from the garbage dump-sites in the streets and sell them for recycling to the concern depot and earn their livelihood and manage meal for one more day. These children are either orphan or they belong to the refugees and have unregistered residence. These workers reside in settlements not serviced by any local municipalities. They can’t go to local schools because they cant afford. These children throw their hands in the heap of filth to find something valuable that can be recycled and can bring some cents to their home. Waste pickers often work alone, they seek for financial value and usually being unequipped they disassemble the material found on dump sites and later this translates into pollution of the surroundings and poisoning of their own bodies. As they collect metal pieces which may include discarded material disposed off by hospitals or clinics contaminated with infected blood, they may receive cuts from these metals causing severe injuries and distempers. There is no proper segregation of contagious waste, thrown usually in streets mostly by local hospitals. Bearing many blood prone viruses like HIV and hepatitis they put the lives of scavengers to ultimate health risks. Children are vulnerable to airborne hazards (such as gases given off by burning wastematerials) as they have a metabolism rate higher than adults. They have thin skin layers making them susceptible to absorption of chemicals and burns. In addition, resulting from carrying heavy loads the soft bones may result into skeletal problems. Major diseases to which garbage pickers are mainly liable are those which spread through blood like HIV, AIDS, hepatitis C, hepatitis B, viral hemorrhagic fevers, HTLV (human T-lymphocutotropic virus), west nile virus, malaria, HGV

References: ) 1-WIKIPiDIA 2-GOOGLE 3-GUYTON’S PHYSIOLOGY