scholarly journals The Health Impacts of Hazardous Chemical Exposures among Child Labourers in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 5496
Author(s):  
Natasha B. Scott ◽  
Nicola S. Pocock
Keyword(s):  
Health Effects ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Chemical Exposure ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Poor Growth ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Chemical Exposures ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Adverse Health ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Of 218 million working children worldwide, many are suspected to be exposed to hazardous chemicals. This review aims to synthesize reported evidence over the last two decades on chemical exposure and adverse health consequences in children labourers in low- and middle-income Countries (LMIC). Included studies investigated health outcomes related to chemical exposures among child labourers aged 5–18 in LMIC. Twenty-three papers were selected for review, focusing on pesticides (n = 5), solvents (n = 3), metals (n = 13) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (n = 2). Adverse health effects identified among child labourers included abnormal biomarkers, for example elevated blood and urine chemical concentrations, neurobehavioural deficits and neurological symptoms, mental health issues, oxidative stress and DNA damage, poor growth, asthma, and hypothyroidism. Workplace exposure to chemicals has pernicious health effects on child labourers. Large research gaps exist, in particular for long-term health impacts through chronic conditions and diseases with long latencies. A sizeable disease burden in later life is likely to be directly attributable to chemicals exposures. We urge national and international agencies concerned with child labour and occupational health, to prioritize research and interventions aiming to reduce noxious chemical exposures in workplaces where children are likely to be present.

scholarly journals Agricultural Innovations to Reduce the Health Impacts of Dams

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1869
Author(s):  
Andrea J. Lund ◽  
David Lopez-Carr ◽  
Susanne H. Sokolow ◽  
Jason R. Rohr ◽  
Giulio A. De Leo
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Environmental Flows ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Modern Agriculture ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Livelihood Systems ◽  
Agricultural Innovations ◽  
Low And Middle Income

Dams enable the production of food and renewable energy, making them a crucial tool for both economic development and climate change adaptation in low- and middle-income countries. However, dams may also disrupt traditional livelihood systems and increase the transmission of vector- and water-borne pathogens. These livelihood and health impacts diminish the benefits of dams to rural populations dependent on rivers, as hydrological and ecological alterations change flood regimes, reduce nutrient transport and lead to the loss of biodiversity. We propose four agricultural innovations for promoting equity, health, sustainable development, and climate resilience in dammed watersheds: (1) restoring migratory aquatic species, (2) removing submerged vegetation and transforming it into an agricultural resource, (3) restoring environmental flows and (4) integrating agriculture and aquaculture. As investment in dams accelerates in low- and middle-income countries, appropriately addressing their livelihood and health impacts can improve the sustainability of modern agriculture and economic development in a changing climate.

DOHaD in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review exploring gaps in DOHaD population studies

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 557-563
Author(s):  
Siobhan Tu’akoi ◽  
Mark H. Vickers ◽  
Jacquie L. Bay
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Later Life ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Incidence Risk ◽  
Low And Middle Income

AbstractLow- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are disproportionately affected by non-communicable diseases (NCDs), accounting for more than 80% of NCD-related deaths globally. Research into early-life influences on these diseases via the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) paradigm has informed health promotion interventions and policies focused on optimising early-life health. However, little is known about where this research occurs and whether it reaches and reflects the countries most affected by NCDs. This review searched for DOHaD studies that investigated relationships between factors during pregnancy and at birth, with later-life NCD incidence, risk and related mortality. The aim of this review was to identify where DOHaD research has been conducted and whether this focus is appropriate and relevant, given the differential burden of NCDs. Embase, MEDLINE and Scopus were searched, and eligibility screening processes identified 136 final articles. This review found that 49.7% of DOHaD research was conducted on populations within Western Europe, 15.9% in East Asia, 12.7% in North America, 8.3% in Latin America and the Caribbean, and fewer in Australasia, South Asia, the Middle East, the Africas, and Central Asia. When categorised by income, this review found that 76.4% of studies were based in high-income countries, 19.1% in upper-middle-income and 4.5% in lower-middle-income countries. No studies were based in low-income countries. There is therefore a marked disconnect between where DOHaD research is undertaken and where the greatest NCD disease burden exists. Increasing DOHaD research capacity in LMICs is crucial to informing local strategies that can contribute to reducing the incidence of NCDs.

scholarly journals Management of undernutrition and failure to thrive in children with congenital heart disease in low- and middle-income countries

2017 ◽  
Vol 27 (S6) ◽  
pp. S22-S30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew C. Argent ◽  
Rakhi Balachandran ◽  
Balu Vaidyanathan ◽  
Amina Khan ◽  
R. Krishna Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Nutritional Support ◽  
Surgical Repair ◽  
Failure To Thrive ◽  
Perioperative Period ◽  
Growth Potential ◽  
Poor Growth ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Skilled Personnel ◽  
Low And Middle Income

AbstractPoor growth with underweight for age, decreased length/height for age, and underweight-for-height are all relatively common in children with CHD. The underlying causes of this failure to thrive may be multifactorial, including innate growth potential, severity of cardiac disease, increased energy requirements, decreased nutritional intake, malabsorption, and poor utilisation of absorbed nutrition. These factors are particularly common and severe in low- and middle-income countries.Although nutrition should be carefully assessed in all patients, failure of growth is not a contraindication to surgical repair, and patients should receive surgical repair where indicated as soon as possible.Close attention should be paid to nutritional support – primarily enteral feeding, with particular use of breast milk in infancy – in the perioperative period and in the paediatric ICU. This nutritional support requires specific attention and allocation of resources, including appropriately skilled personnel.Thereafter, it is essential to monitor growth and development and to identify causes for failure to catch-up or grow appropriately.

scholarly journals A Systematic Framework for Collecting Site-Specific Sampling and Survey Data to Support Analyses of Health Impacts from Land-Based Pollution in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4676
Author(s):  
Katherine von Stackelberg ◽  
Pamela R.D. Williams ◽  
Ernesto Sánchez-Triana
Keyword(s):  
Health Outcomes ◽  
Health Impact ◽  
Adverse Outcomes ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Economic Activities ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Populations At Risk ◽  
Low And Middle Income

The rise of small-scale and localized economic activities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) has led to increased exposures to contaminants associated with these processes and the potential for resulting adverse health effects in exposed communities. Risk assessment is the process of building models to predict the probability of adverse outcomes based on concentration-response functions and exposure scenarios for individual contaminants, while epidemiology uses statistical methods to explore associations between potential exposures and observed health outcomes. Neither approach by itself is practical or sufficient for evaluating the magnitude of exposures and health impacts associated with land-based pollution in LMICs. Here we propose a more pragmatic framework for designing representative studies, including uniform sampling guidelines and household surveys, that draws from both methodologies to better support community health impact analyses associated with land-based pollution sources in LMICs. Our primary goal is to explicitly link environmental contamination from land-based pollution associated with specific localized economic activities to community exposures and health outcomes at the household level. The proposed framework was applied to the following three types of industries that are now widespread in many LMICs: artisanal scale gold mining (ASGM), used lead-acid battery recycling (ULAB), and small tanning facilities. For each activity, we develop a generalized conceptual site model (CSM) that describes qualitative linkages from chemical releases or discharges, environmental fate and transport mechanisms, exposure pathways and routes, populations at risk, and health outcomes. This upfront information, which is often overlooked, is essential for delineating the contaminant zone of influence in a community and identifying relevant households for study. We also recommend cost-effective methods for use in LMICs related to environmental sampling, biological monitoring, survey questionnaires, and health outcome measurements at contaminated and unexposed reference sites. Future study designs based on this framework will facilitate consistent, comparable, and standardized community exposure, risk, and health impact assessments for land-based pollution in LMICs. The results of these studies can also support economic burden analyses and risk management decision-making around site cleanup, risk mitigation, and public health education.

Risk Analysis Approaches to Evaluating Health Impacts from Land‐Based Pollution in Low‐ and Middle‐Income Countries

Risk Analysis ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela R. D. Williams ◽  
Katherine Stackelberg ◽  
Mayra Gabriela Guerra Lopez ◽  
Ernesto Sanchez‐Triana
Keyword(s):  
Risk Analysis ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Middle Income Countries ◽  
Low And Middle Income
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document