Understanding the interplay of occupational, public health, and climate-related risks for informal workers : A new framework with findings from Zimbabwe and India
Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved..
Globally, there are 2 billion 'informal' workers, who lack access to social protection while facing profound health risks and socioeconomic exclusions. The informal economy has generated most jobs in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), but few studies have explored informal workers' complex health vulnerabilities, including in the face of climate change. This paper will discuss recent action-research in Indore (India), Harare, and Masvingo (Zimbabwe) with informal workers like vendors, waste-pickers, and urban farmers. We conducted qualitative interviews (N = 110 in India), focus group discussions (N = 207 in Zimbabwe), and a quantitative survey (N = 418 in Zimbabwe). Many informal workers live in informal settlements ('slums'), and we highlight the interrelated health risks at their homes and workplaces. We explore how climate-related threats-including heatwaves, drought, and floods-negatively affect informal workers' health and livelihoods. These challenges often have gender-inequitable impacts. We also analyse workers' individual and collective responses. We propose a comprehensive framework to reveal the drivers of health in the informal economy, and we complement this holistic approach with a new research agenda. Our framework highlights the socioeconomic, environmental, and political determinants of informal workers' health. We argue that informal workers may face difficult trade-offs, due to competing priorities in the face of climate change and other risks. Future interventions will need to recognise informal workers' array of risks and co-develop multifaceted solutions, thereby helping to avoid such impossible choices. We recommend holistic initiatives to foster health and climate resilience, as well as participatory action-research partnerships and qualitative, intersectional data-collection with informal workers.
| Medienart: |
E-Artikel |
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| Erscheinungsjahr: |
2024 |
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| Erschienen: |
2024 |
| Enthalten in: |
Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:348 |
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| Enthalten in: |
Social science & medicine (1982) - 348(2024) vom: 20. März, Seite 116750 |
| Sprache: |
Englisch |
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| Beteiligte Personen: |
Sverdlik, Alice [VerfasserIn] |
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| Links: |
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| Themen: |
Climate change |
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| Anmerkungen: |
Date Revised 26.03.2024 published: Print-Electronic Citation Status Publisher |
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| doi: |
10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.116750 |
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| funding: |
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| Förderinstitution / Projekttitel: |
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| PPN (Katalog-ID): |
NLM370207696 |
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| 520 | |a Globally, there are 2 billion 'informal' workers, who lack access to social protection while facing profound health risks and socioeconomic exclusions. The informal economy has generated most jobs in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs), but few studies have explored informal workers' complex health vulnerabilities, including in the face of climate change. This paper will discuss recent action-research in Indore (India), Harare, and Masvingo (Zimbabwe) with informal workers like vendors, waste-pickers, and urban farmers. We conducted qualitative interviews (N = 110 in India), focus group discussions (N = 207 in Zimbabwe), and a quantitative survey (N = 418 in Zimbabwe). Many informal workers live in informal settlements ('slums'), and we highlight the interrelated health risks at their homes and workplaces. We explore how climate-related threats-including heatwaves, drought, and floods-negatively affect informal workers' health and livelihoods. These challenges often have gender-inequitable impacts. We also analyse workers' individual and collective responses. We propose a comprehensive framework to reveal the drivers of health in the informal economy, and we complement this holistic approach with a new research agenda. Our framework highlights the socioeconomic, environmental, and political determinants of informal workers' health. We argue that informal workers may face difficult trade-offs, due to competing priorities in the face of climate change and other risks. Future interventions will need to recognise informal workers' array of risks and co-develop multifaceted solutions, thereby helping to avoid such impossible choices. We recommend holistic initiatives to foster health and climate resilience, as well as participatory action-research partnerships and qualitative, intersectional data-collection with informal workers | ||
| 650 | 4 | |a Journal Article | |
| 650 | 4 | |a Climate change | |
| 650 | 4 | |a Gender | |
| 650 | 4 | |a Informal economy | |
| 650 | 4 | |a Informal settlements | |
| 650 | 4 | |a Occupational health | |
| 650 | 4 | |a Social determinants of health | |
| 650 | 4 | |a Urban health | |
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| 700 | 1 | |a Machemedze, Rangarirai |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Verma, Shabnam |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
| 700 | 1 | |a Loewenson, Rene |e verfasserin |4 aut | |
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