Public Lives, Private Water: Female Ready-Made Garment Factory Workers in Peri-Urban Bangladesh

In Dhaka city and its fringe peri-urban sprawls water for domestic use is an increasingly contested commodity. The location of our research, Gazipur district, bordering the growing city of Dhaka, is the heartland of Bangladesh’s Ready Made Garments (RMG) industry, which has spread unplanned in former wetlands and agrarian belts. However, unlike Dhaka, the almost fully industrialized peri-urban areas bordering the city, like many other such areas globally, function in an institutional vacuum. There are no formal institutional arrangements for water supply or sanitation. In the absence of regulations for mining groundwater for industrial use and weakly enforced norms for effluent discharge, the expansion of the RMG industry and other industries has had a disproportionate environmental impact. In this complex and challenging context, we apply a political economy lens to draw attention to the paradoxical situation of the increasingly “public” lives of poor Bangladeshi women working in large numbers in the RMG industry in situations of increasingly “private” and appropriated water sources in this institutionally liminal peri-urban space. Our findings show that poorly paid work for women in Bangladesh’s RMG industry does not translate to women’s empowerment because, among others, a persisting masculinity and the lack of reliable, appropriate and affordable WASH services make women’s domestic water work responsibilities obligatory and onerous.

Development of an intervention to support reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia: a qualitative study

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to describe the development of an intervention to support the reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia.DesignA qualitative study informed by intervention mapping which included semistructured interviews and participant observation, followed by intervention development activities including specifying possible behaviour change, designing the intervention, and producing and refining intervention content.SettingThe research was conducted by a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds in public health, linguistics, digital cultures and service delivery in a suburb of Phnom Penh where many garment factories cluster.ParticipantsGarment factory workers in Cambodia; typically young women aged under 30 years who have migrated from rural areas to Phnom Penh city.OutcomesAnalysis of reproductive health issues facing garment factory workers and metrics of videos developed.ResultsOur research identified some challenges that Cambodian garment factory workers experience regarding contraception and abortion. Concerns or experience of side-effects were identified as an important determinant leading to non-use of effective contraception and subsequent unintended pregnancy. Financial constraints and a desire to space pregnancies were the main reported reasons to seek an abortion. Information about medical abortion given to women by private providers was often verbal, with packaging and the drug information leaflet withheld. In order to address limitations in the provision of accessible reproductive health information for factory workers, and given their observed widespread use of social media, we decided to make three ‘edutainment’ videos about family planning. Key social media metrics of the videos were evaluated after 1 month.ConclusionsWe describe the development of an intervention to support reproductive health among garment factory workers in Cambodia. These videos could be further improved and additional videos could be developed. More work is required to develop appropriate and effective interventions to support reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia.

Scooping Review : Efektivitas Penggunaan Alat Pelindung Diri dengan Kejadian Dermatitis Kontak pada Pekerja Pabrik

Skin disease is currently still a health problem for people in the world, including in Indonesia. The prevalence of all forms of dermatitis was 4.66%. Dermatitis often occurs in factory workers, such as garment factory workers, with 25.7% suffering from Occupational Contact Dermatitis (DKAK), which is related to the use of colored fabrics for fabrics. The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) in this case gloves can minimize the risk of contact dermatitis. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of the use of personal protective equipment in reducing the incidence of contact dermatitis in workers. This type of research is the Scooping Review with article searches from Google Scholar, Science Direct and Springer Link. There were 83 articles that matched the inclusion criteria and those that matched the exclusion criteria were 3. The study was conducted March 2019- December 2020. The results of the analysis showed that the effectiveness of using personal protective equipment is very important to avoid the incidence of contact dermatitis in workers, especially to prevent factors -factors that put workers in contact with allergens and irritants. Abstrak. Penyakit Kulit saat ini masih menjadi masalah kesehatan bagi masyarakat di dunia, tak terkecuali di Indonesia. Prevalensi dari semua bentuk dermatitis adalah 4,66%. Dermatitis sering terjadi pada pekerja pabrik, seperti misalnya pekerja pabrik garment sebesar 25,7 % menderita Dermatitis Kontak Akibat Kerja (DKAK), yang terkait penggunaan bahan warna untuk kain. Pemakaian Alat Pelindung Diri (APD) dalam hal ini sarung tangan dapat meminimalkan risiko terjadinya dermatitis kontak. Tujuan penelitian untuk menilai efektivitas penggunaan alat pelindung diri dalam mengurangi kejadian dermatitis kontak pada pekerja. Jenis penelitian yang digunakan adalah Scooping Review dengan pencarian artikel dari Google Scholar, Science Direct dan Springer Link. Artikel yang sesuai dengan kriteria inklusi sebanyak 83 artikel dan yang sesuai dengan kriteria eksklusi adalah 3. Penelitian dilakukan Maret 2019- Desember 2020. Hasil telaah analisis didapat efektivitas penggunaan alat pelindung diri sangat penting untuk menghindari kejadian dermatitis kontak pada para pekerja, terutama untuk mencegah faktor-faktor yang membuat para pekerja berkontak dengan bahan-bahan alergen dan iritan.

A comprehensive model to address reproductive health and family planning needs of factory workers in Port Said [Arabic]

This infographic describes interventions conducted in Port Said, Egypt, aimed at increasing demand for private family planning health (FP/RH) services among young men and women (aged 18-35 years). The intervention was aimed at young garment factory workers, where selected factory workers were trained to serve as peer educators and to provide FP/RH messages to their co-workers, referring them to the infirmary nurse for more information and counseling, as needed. This nurse referred those who desired more services or FP methods to trained physicians and pharmacists. The infographic provides an overview of the interventions, perspectives from study participants, and lessons learned for integrating FP/RH into workers' health education programs.

A comprehensive model to address reproductive health and family planning needs of factory workers in Port Said

This infographic describes interventions conducted in Port Said, Egypt, aimed at increasing demand for private family planning health (FP/RH) services among young men and women (aged 18-35 years). The intervention was aimed at young garment factory workers, where selected factory workers were trained to serve as peer educators and to provide FP/RH messages to their co-workers, referring them to the infirmary nurse for more information and counseling, as needed. This nurse referred those who desired more services or FP methods to trained physicians and pharmacists. The infographic provides an overview of the interventions, perspectives from study participants, and lessons learned for integrating FP/RH into workers' health education programs.

Workplace health program intervention in Port Said, Egypt

This video describes an intervention conducted by the Evidence Project in Port Said, Egypt, aimed at increasing demand for private family planning health (FP/RH) services among young men and women (aged 18–35 years) who work in garment factories. In Port Said, the intervention was aimed at young garment factory workers, where selected factory workers were trained to serve as peer educators and to provide FP/RH messages to their co-workers, referring them to the infirmary nurse for more information and counseling, as needed. This nurse referred those who desired more services or FP methods to trained physicians and pharmacists. This video also describes how factory health committees were created to ensure sustainability of the program in each factory. This video, which is in Arabic with English subtitles, can be used to introduce a worker health program to factory leadership.

Development of an Intervention to Support Reproductive Health of Garment Factory Workers in Cambodia

Background: Garment factory workers in Cambodia are potentially a vulnerable population in terms of support for reproductive health issues and access to services, as the majority are young women aged under 30 years who have migrated from rural areas away from their family and community support. The aim of this paper was to describe the development of an intervention to support the reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia.Methods: The research was conducted by a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds in public health, linguistics, digital cultures and service delivery in a suburb of Phnom Penh where many garment factories cluster. Informed by intervention mapping approaches, we conducted a needs assessment with general and participant observation and semi-structured interviews, followed by intervention development activities including specifying possible behaviour change, designing the intervention and producing and refining intervention content.Results: Our research identified some challenges that Cambodian garment factory workers experience regarding contraception and abortion. Concerns or experience of side-effects were identified as an important determinant leading to non-use of effective contraception and subsequent unintended pregnancy. Financial constraints or a desire to space pregnancies were the main reported reasons to seek an abortion. Information about medical abortion given to women by private providers was often verbal, with packaging and the drug information leaflet withheld. Given the observed widespread use of social media among factory workers, we developed three short ‘edutainment’ videos about contraception which were evaluated after one month. In addition we adapted three informative videos made by Marie Stopes International (MSI) from English to the Khmer language, and also adapted the MSI medical abortion ‘Mariprist’ instruction leaflet to a simple video format.Conclusions: We describe the development of an intervention to support reproductive health among garment factory workers in Cambodia. These videos could be further improved and additional videos could be developed. More work is required to develop appropriate and effective interventions to support reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia.Trial registration: N/A

Development of an Intervention to Support Reproductive Health of Garment Factory Workers in Cambodia

Background: Garment factory workers in Cambodia are potentially a vulnerable population in terms of support for reproductive health issues and access to services, as the majority are young women aged under 30 years who have migrated from rural areas away from their family and community support. The aim of this paper was to describe the development of an intervention to support the reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia.Methods: The research was conducted by a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds in public health, linguistics, digital cultures and service delivery in a suburb of Phnom Penh where many garment factories cluster. Informed by intervention mapping approaches, we conducted a needs assessment with general and participant observation and semi-structured interviews, followed by intervention development activities including specifying possible behaviour change, designing the intervention and producing and refining intervention content.Results: Our research identified some challenges that Cambodian garment factory workers experience regarding contraception and abortion. Concerns or experience of side-effects were identified as an important determinant leading to non-use of effective contraception and subsequent unintended pregnancy. Financial constraints or a desire to space pregnancies were the main reported reasons to seek an abortion. Information about medical abortion given to women by private providers was often verbal, with packaging and the drug information leaflet withheld. Given the observed widespread use of social media among factory workers, we developed three short ‘edutainment’ videos about contraception which were evaluated after one month. In addition we adapted three informative videos made by Marie Stopes International (MSI) from English to the Khmer language, and also adapted the MSI medical abortion ‘Mariprist’ instruction leaflet to a simple video format.Conclusions: We describe the development of an intervention to support reproductive health among garment factory workers in Cambodia. These videos could be further improved and additional videos could be developed. More work is required to develop appropriate and effective interventions to support reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia.