Health Problems among Women Building Construction Workers.
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Date
2014-06
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Abstract
Back ground: Construction industry is one of the stable growing industries world over, including
Bangladesh. In Dhaka city there are many construction sites, where workers are exposed to hazardous
condition, specially the female workers. Throughout the world, over 90% of construction workers are
male. In some developing countries, the proportion of women is higher. In Bangladesh their number is
increasing day by day. Objective: To explore the health problems among the women building
construction workers Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out among 134 female
construction workers. Data was collected through face to face interview by using prefixed questionnaire.
The study was conducted from September 2011 to December 2012 in the Department of Community
medicine, Dhaka National Medical College, Dhaka. The subjects were selected from different building
construction sites of old Dhaka city. Results: It was observed that among 134 respondents, majority
96(71.6%) of the women construction worker were brick breaker and 38(28.3%) were weight carrier.
Their mean age was 38.29±6.9 years. Most workers 110 (82.1%) had different types of skin problem.
The proportion of skin problems was found to be high among the weight carrier and the difference was
statistically highly significant (pOE .001). 89(66.5%) respondents had urinary tract infection, 66(49.3%)
had constipation and 24(17.9%) complaint uterine prolapse. Among the total respondents 68(58.2%)
complain of backache. The workers who complain of backache, 52(54.1%) were brick breaker and
16(42.1%) were weight carrier. 79 (58.9%) respondents used personal protective equipments, among
them 61(77.2%) used self made hand gloves and 38(48.1%) used folded towel to carry weight. Besides
of the total respondents 117(87.3%) complain of different types of respiratory problem. Conclusion:
The study concludes that different types of skin diseases are present among female construction
workers that might be attributable to exposure to hot humid working environment. Besides pain full
micturation, uterine prolapse, low backache and respiratory problem were found among them which
might need special attention.
Description
Keywords
Construction worker, PPE (personal protective equipment), UTI (urinary tract infection), uterine prolapsed
Citation
Sultana Nahid, Ferdousi Jannatul, Shahidullah Md. Health Problems among Women Building Construction Workers. Journal of Bangladesh Society of Physiologists. 2014 June; 9(1): 31-36.