An Assessment of Health Status of Seasonal Migrant Brick Kiln Workers of Jorhat District of Assam

The present study investigates the health status of seasonal migrant workers of brick kilns. The sample for the study comprised of 371 seasonal migrant workers in the age group of 18-70 years including both sexes. A combination of multistage and judgement random sampling technique was used for the selection of the sample group from 17 brick kilns of Jorhat district of Assam state. Clinical assessment was conducted to look for the symptoms of various ailments (anaemia, malnutrition, hypertension, respiratory rate and other pathological signs). The results of the study revealed that seasonal migrant workers of brick kilns were suffering from disturbed emotional status along with capacity for strenuous physical activity. It was found that though 62.5 percent workers had medium body built, 38.3 percent workers had underweight BMI (less than18.5 kg/m2) indicating the highest prevalence of malnourishment among 52.3 percent workers of 18 to 30 yrs of age. Half of the workers were identified undernourished (23 to 18.5 cm), moderately undernourished (18.5 to 16 cm) and severely undernourished (less than16 cm) mid upper arm circumference (MUAC).60.9 percent workers had systolic blood pressure above 120 and 7.3 percent workers had systolic blood pressure below 100. The observations for the signs and symptoms of anaemia and malnutrition indicated that 85.7 percent of the workers had pale cold skin, 73.9 percent had general weakness and 66.6 percent had yellow conjunctiva, 73.6 percent workers were feeling dizziness during working time, 96.8 percent had pallor on the palm of the hand, 82.2 percent workers were identified fatigue symptoms, 63.3 percent respondents were examined presence of bitots spots on the eyes. Majority (90.5 %) of the respondents showed clear cut presence of anaemia. The most significant fact of this research study is that it attempts to provide evidence based recommendation for improving access and reducing barriers to health and healthcare services and raises various issues related to right to health to the vulnerable groups of brick kiln workers. The results of this study have provided comprehensive evidence to hold implications for academics, policy makers, trainers, educationalists, professionals, workers and employers to introduce health programmes in order to improve the health of seasonal migrant workers of brick kilns.