Employmentweb_low

EmploymEnt, Work, And hEAlth InEquAlItIEs - a global perspective
selected case studies
Case study 54. Lifetime health consequences of child labour in Brazil. - rosa amélia dantas and vilma santana
the relevance of early experiences to health in adulthood has been the focus of recent epidemiological studies. the life
course approach has been helpful in revealing important facts of social, cultural, psychological and biological pathways to
disease and developmental dysfunction. child labour is common in many developed and, in particular, developing countries,
and its association with health problems such as work injuries and occupational diseases has been demonstrated in studies
conducted throughout the world (roggero, Mangiaterra, bustro, & rosati, 2007). less studied are the life-time
consequences of child labour on health, although the plausibility of this hypothesis has been suggested by several authors.
a study carried out in the city of aracaju, the capital of sergipe state, brazil, the smallest state in the country, evaluated
the hypotheses that a history of child labour and a low age at first job compromise self–perceived health and height in
adulthood. the study population was a random single-stage cluster sample of 1,727 families living in the city, corresponding
to 3,262 adult workers from 18 to 65 years of age. data collection was based on individual household interviews with
questionnaires filled out by trained interviewers. results show that average height among adult women who reported work
as children was 1.62m, lower than the 1.63 estimated among the reference group (p