Status of women health implication: a case study of home based agarbatti making industries

The home based industries in Bangalore have provided ample opportunity of employment for the women workers of low socio-economic class although their problems are not much explored. Among them, a large proportion was potentially exposed to occupational hazards and was at most risk. In this paper, an attempt was made to study the health status of the women who are engaged in agarbatti making industries of Bangalore city. The home-based agarbatti industries were chosen by random sampling method. Data were collected by conducting interview, group discussions and observations of the women engaged in this occupation. The analysis of workers, years of service and diseases they affects were carried out. 45% were in this occupation for more than 15 years and they exhausted 7 hours for this work daily. The percentages of diseases of affect was enumerated 91% headache, 95% eye irritation, 88% skin allergy, 62% Fatigue, 79% cold and cough, 78% difficulty in breathing, 85% back ache, 60% fever, 52% dysentery and Asthma. In recent times, contribution of poor work environmental conditions, poor perception of work conditions and presence of adverse health condition in workers on occupational injury occurrence has been highlighted. Need exists for a participatory occupational health programme for this working population and also it needs to be promote research on the prevention and control of occupational health hazards.