TY - JOUR
T1 - Child labor and health
T2 - a systematic literature review of the impacts of child labor on child's health in low- and middle-income countries
AU - Ibrahim, Abdalla
AU - Abdalla, Salma M.
AU - Jafer, Mohammed
AU - Abdelgadir, Jihad
AU - de Vries, Nanne
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2018. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/3
Y1 - 2019/3
N2 - Objective To summarize current evidence on the impacts of child labor on physical and mental health.Methods We searched PubMed and ScienceDirect for studies that included participants aged 18 years or less, conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and reported quantitative data. Two independent reviewers conducted data extraction and assessment of study quality.Results A total of 25 studies were identified, the majority of which were cross-sectional. Child labor was found to be associated with a number of adverse health outcomes, including but not limited to poor growth, malnutrition, higher incidence of infectious and system-specific diseases, behavioral and emotional disorders, and decreased coping efficacy. Quality of included studies was rated as fair to good.Conclusion and recommendations Child labor remains a major public health concern in LMICs, being associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Current efforts against child labor need to be revisited, at least in LMICs. Further studies following a longitudinal design, and using common methods to assess the health impact of child labor in different country contexts would inform policy making.
AB - Objective To summarize current evidence on the impacts of child labor on physical and mental health.Methods We searched PubMed and ScienceDirect for studies that included participants aged 18 years or less, conducted in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and reported quantitative data. Two independent reviewers conducted data extraction and assessment of study quality.Results A total of 25 studies were identified, the majority of which were cross-sectional. Child labor was found to be associated with a number of adverse health outcomes, including but not limited to poor growth, malnutrition, higher incidence of infectious and system-specific diseases, behavioral and emotional disorders, and decreased coping efficacy. Quality of included studies was rated as fair to good.Conclusion and recommendations Child labor remains a major public health concern in LMICs, being associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Current efforts against child labor need to be revisited, at least in LMICs. Further studies following a longitudinal design, and using common methods to assess the health impact of child labor in different country contexts would inform policy making.
KW - children
KW - health impact assessment
KW - occupational diseases
KW - WORKING CHILDREN
KW - PREVALENCE
KW - ABUSE
KW - UNITS
U2 - 10.1093/pubmed/fdy018
DO - 10.1093/pubmed/fdy018
M3 - (Systematic) Review article
C2 - 29409061
SN - 1741-3842
VL - 41
SP - 18
EP - 26
JO - Journal of Public Health
JF - Journal of Public Health
IS - 1
ER -