Does seasonal migration for sugarcane harvesting influence routine immunization coverage? A cross-sectional study from rural Maharashtra

Pakhare, Abhijit; Pawar, Radhakishan; Lokhande, Ganesh S.; Datta, Shib Shekhar

doi:10.4103/0019-557x.132288

Cited by 14 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…Similarly, children of seasonal or short-duration migrants become vulnerable to nutrition insecurity as they lack easy access to subsidized food and fair worse than non-migrants on most health indicators [8]. Several studies have also documented that the uptake of immunization is low among migrants [9] because of lack of awareness, time constraints, high costs incurred for vaccination and difficulty in traveling to health centres in urban areas [10–13]. As children stay unattended at their parents worksites, exposed to unhygienic living conditions and unsafe environment there are large concerns about their safety, and overall health and wellbeing [4, 14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition among children of migrant construction workers in Ahmedabad, India

Ravindranath

Trani

Iannotti

2019

Int J Equity Health

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Background Millions of poor households in India undertake short duration rural to urban migration along with their children to find work in the informal economy in the city. While literature has documented the precarity of such temporary jobs, typically characterized by low wages, insecure jobs, harsh recruitment regimes and economic vulnerability, little is known about its implications for children who migrate with their parents to the city. In this study, we draw attention to children of migrant construction workers and focus on their overall nutritional well-being, which remains under-studied. Our objectives were to categorize the current nutritional status of children under the age of five and determine the underlying causes of poor nutritional outcomes. Methods The field work for this study was undertaken between May 2017 and January 2018 at five construction sites in the city of Ahmedabad. We undertook anthropometric measurements of children under the age of five [N = 131; (male: 46%, female 53%); (mean age: 31.7 months)] and categorized their nutritional status. Using the UNICEF framework on undernutrition, we examined the underlying causes of poor nutritional outcomes among this group of children with the help of qualitative methods such as interviews, focused group discussions and participant observation at the field sites. Results Undernutrition was highly prevalent among the children (N = 131): stunted (40.5%); wasted (22.1%); and underweight (50.4%). We found common factors across parents interviewed such as similar misperceptions of malnutrition, long hours of work and lack of childcare provision at the worksite which resulted in disrupted quality of care. While socio-cultural beliefs and lack of information influenced breastfeeding, other factors such as inability to take breaks or lack of space further impaired infant feeding practices more broadly. Lack of dietary diversity at home, poor hygiene and sanitation, and economic inability to seek healthcare further affected child nutritional status. Conclusions Our study addresses a critical gap in migration literature in India by building a comprehensive narrative of migrant children’s experiences at construction sites. We find that parents’ informal work setting exposes children to a nutritionally challenging environment. Policies and programs seeking to address undernutrition, a critical challenge in India, must pay attention to the specific needs of migrant children.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition among children of migrant construction workers in Ahmedabad, India

Ravindranath

Trani

Iannotti

2019

Int J Equity Health

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“…Utilization of antenatal care (ANC) services was remarkably low among the migrants compared to the local population or long‐term migrants. This finding was reported among the migrant women that were either sampled from the slums, or from construction sites, or the seasonal migrants during sugarcane harvesting season . Kusuma et al reported that for ANC, migrants in Delhi mainly relied on government health facility (72%), but adequate ANC was accessed by only 20% of the migrant women .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…The immunization rates are not satisfactory with a very low percentage of migrants' children completely immunized up to age. A greater proportion of children were either partially immunized or did not even receive a single vaccine; when full immunization by 1 year of age is considered, none of the children was fully immunized . The proportion of children who did not receive a single vaccine is notable among tribal migrants in Bhubaneswar City—40% and 25%, and among seasonal migrants in Beed, Maharashtra—23% .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A greater proportion of children were either partially immunized or did not even receive a single vaccine; when full immunization by 1 year of age is considered, none of the children was fully immunized . The proportion of children who did not receive a single vaccine is notable among tribal migrants in Bhubaneswar City—40% and 25%, and among seasonal migrants in Beed, Maharashtra—23% . Sharma et al considering the construction site workers as the proxy for migrants reported very low uptake of childhood immunization with only 3% of children fully immunized for age, while 91% were partially immunized and 6% did not receive a single vaccine …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Migration and health: A systematic review on health and health care of internal migrants in India

Kusuma

Babu

2018

Health Planning & Management

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The objective of this paper is to review published studies on various health conditions and health care access of internal migrants in India. The guidelines under PRISMA Statement for Reporting Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis were followed. We searched 3 databases-Web of Science, Medline (PubMed), and Google Scholar. By applying selection criteria, we identified a total of 42 papers to include in the review. These studies reported various health problems/morbid conditions, and some studies reported health care access. Major health issues of poor migrants included work-related injuries, noncommunicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension, and communicable diseases like malaria and HIV. In addition, behavioural risks such as the use of tobacco and alcohol are reported. Information on health care seeking and poor access to government health care system are available. This review demonstrates the need to improve the health status and health care access of poor migrants. As health systems-related factors also influence the health care seeking behaviour, they are to be considered along with improving the living conditions of this population. Thus, a comprehensive migrant-sensitive health care should be the part of the urban health care system.

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“…The children of the labourers are either partially immunized or non-immunized because of the place or time of vaccination not known, unavailability of immunization services at site, inconvenient time of sessions, unaware of need for vaccination etc. (Pakhare, Pawar, Lokhande, Datta, 2014). The quality of life of sugarcane harvesting migrants deteriorates sharply at destination from the nominal quality of life at their source.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Documenting Migrant Lives of Sugarcane Harvesting Labourers in Maharashtra– Autoethnographic Reflections

Chaudhari¹,

Jaggi²

2020

rupkatha

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Physical labour is not respected in India. Farm labourers are one of the most exploited labourers in India, and the world. Every year more than one million unorganised contract labourers, most of them from lower castes, migrate to the sugar belt in Western Maharashtra for around six months where sugar factories are concentrated. With around 200 sugar factories, Maharashtra ranks number one in sugar production in India. The labourers work for twelve or more hours a day and get poor returns. On the other hand, the working and living conditions violate basic human rights (Deshingkar, Start, 2003). Cane cutting is the most laborious farm work where the labourers have to bend for hours, pick up very heavy cane bundles and mount them at risky heights even during the night time. While injuries are very common among these labourers, occasionally, deaths too take place. The most recent reports reveal that the contractors force women labourers to remove their wombs so that they do not menstruate while working and therefore miss work. The number of such women estimates to around 30%. “Networks working on health and women’s issues say unwarranted hysterectomies among poor women in Beed and other places are the result of work-related pressures imposed on women, plus a grossly unregulated private medical sector and exploitative contractors and sugar factory owners who hire migrant workers” (Chatterjee, 2019). Along with such health hazards, activists claim that women labourers are exploited by the male contractors at the worksite where physical abuse and rapes happen quite often though they are not formally reported. Young children of the labourers also travel with them at the destination leaving their schools and education behind to help their parents in their work to get trapped into the vicious cycle of bonded labour like their parents (making it a generation after generation trap). Marginalised, alienated and vulnerable in the migrated socio-cultural environment, the sugarcane harvesting backward class labourers face livelihood insecurities. Pregnant women and children have to work. Exploitation is both obvious and subtle. Still this seasonal life is a better opportunity for them. The hardly shared realities, including, women’s critical health issues, sexual exploitation, rapes among other sensitive issues of their lives are beyond imagination. This paper studies the observations made while making a documentary film (which is an ethnographic exploration) on migrant labourers’ challenges. Using an autoethnographic framework on part of the authors, this research paper will attempt to capture their fears, insecurities, subtle voice as well as the silences.

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Does seasonal migration for sugarcane harvesting influence routine immunization coverage? A cross-sectional study from rural Maharashtra

Cited by 14 publications

References 3 publications

Nutrition among children of migrant construction workers in Ahmedabad, India

Nutrition among children of migrant construction workers in Ahmedabad, India

Migration and health: A systematic review on health and health care of internal migrants in India

Documenting Migrant Lives of Sugarcane Harvesting Labourers in Maharashtra– Autoethnographic Reflections

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