Employmentweb_low

EmpLoymEnT, work, And HEALTH inEquALiTiES - a global perspective
Case study 30. The working poor selling their organs to survive. - Joan benach and hani serag
over the past three decades, organ transplantation has developed from being an experimental procedure performed only in
a few advanced medical centres to being a common treatment carried out in many hospitals throughout the world including
many south american, middle eastern and african countries. survival rates have increased markedly over the past decade, and
in many countries there is now a high demand for organ transplants. For example, in 2005 in the european union, only 57.5 per
cent of organ needs were covered, and in the united Kingdom and the united states, more than 6,000 and 70,000 patients,
respectively, were on the waiting list for kidneys. even though buying and selling organs is illegal in most countries, the
circulation of body parts transcends national boundaries, and there is a flourishing black market of human organs worldwide.
in general, the limited information available shows that the flow of living-donor organs (mostly kidneys) follows an unequal
distribution that goes from south to north, poor to rich, black to white, and female to male.
the procedures to obtain organs vary. in Japan, for example, patients have for many years used intermediaries with
connections to organised crime, the "body mafia", to locate paid kidney donors in other countries. in other cases, wealthy patients
use internet sites on which people post organs for sale, or travel great distances to other countries to secure a transplant.
it seems that egypt has turned into a regional hub for the human organ trade. While there are no official statistics, in a
country where social inequality and poverty are very high, more and more impoverished working or unemployed egyptians
are selling their organs. organ-selling in egypt evolved into an organised business in 1987, eleven years after egypt's first
kidney transplant. the doctors’ union banned live-donor transplants from egyptians to foreigners in 1987 and prohibited
newspaper advertisements in which kidneys were sought. nevertheless, as the scars on the sides of many egyptians in
impoverished cairo neighbourhoods testify, dealers in kidneys and other organs have found a safe and lucrative customer
stream. as the head of an egyptian doctors' union pointed out, "a saudi patient can pay up to us $80,000, split between the
doctor, the donor and the go-between [...] a Jordanian or a saudi who needs a transplant comes to egypt accompanied by
a relative as an official cover and then looks for an egyptian or a sudanese who is ready to sell his organ" (bassoul, 2006).
in an interview with the daily Al-Masri Al-Yom, three egyptians explained that the price for seeking better-paid jobs in the
gulf was a kidney. asked to undergo a medical examination beforehand, the doctor then "discovered" they were all suffering
from a kidney infection requiring immediate surgery. they woke up later in a hospital with a missing kidney, and a few days
later the health ministry caught a trafficker red-handed as he was selling a kidney to a saudi citizen for us$3,500.
While in the u.s. and the european union selling organs is a crime that can incur high fines and even jail, in egypt the lack of
proper legislation feeds a booming black market. in the philippines, many people have sold kidneys and other organs to rich
Westerners seeking transplants. despite the lack of reliable data, it seems that the trafficking of human organs is one of the fastest
growing illicit trades in the country. a study by the university of the philippines revealed that about 3,000 people in one slum area
near manila sold a kidney for prices ranging from us$1,400 to us $2,500 (cullen, 2007). although human organ trafficking is illegal
in the philippines, the voluntary donation of an organ is not. the availability and willingness of many working poor to sell their organs
is a marker of their vulnerability. they sell them because they have nothing else to sell to survive. in fact, many are so weak and
malnourished that they can die within months of the removal, unless they get advanced medical care. While in the philippines about
6,000 people are suitable kidney transplant candidates, only 5 per cent actually receive transplants because of an insufficient organ
supply and the unaffordability of the operative procedure for most patients (aguilar & siruno, 2004).
References
aguilar, F., & siruno, l. (2004). A community without kidney: a tragedy Analysis of the moral and ethical aspects of kidney organ donation.
philippines: university of philippines.
bassoul, J.(2006). egypt's illegal organ trade thrives on poverty. Amnesty International Bulletin, 9, 8-13.
cullen, s. (2007, February 25). sinful exploitation. The Manila Times.
Case study 31. The 21st century "Jungle": Taylorist work organisation and health inequalities in a Spanish
slaughterhouse. - salvador moncada i lluís, clara llorens serrano and teresa castellà gardenyes
hazardous working conditions are unequally distributed among populations and have been identified as a major cause
of health inequalities. research on the social class, gender, age, and ethnic segregation of workplaces, unemployment,
downsizing and precarious employment, for example, have provided good evidence of such a negative impact. hazardous
working conditions, however, contribute not only to generating but also magnifying existing health inequalities among
populations by pushing workers who are injured or sick from previous exposures away from employment, towards hazardous
working conditions. in this way, working class people are more frequently ill than middle or upper-middle class workers. the
contemporary spanish slaughterhouse provides a glaring example of how such health inequalities are tied to the workplace.
the table below shows the percentages of workers by tertile of self-perceived general health (low, medium and high,
measured using the spanish version of sF-36), by age group, of the working men and women of a spanish slaughterhouse,
as well as the same information for a control group: a spanish working population from a population-based representative
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