The sanitary situation and its health effects on women exposed to occupational heat in Chennai, India.

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to see how lack of toilets along with occupational heat affects health and prosperous. It is based on interviews made on women and men working in the surroundings of Chennai, India, with and without access to toilets, that all are affected by occupational heat. Questions about their perception of how their health is affected by working in heat are asked. There are also questions about how their work is affected by their toilet situation. Some of the interviewees have access to shadow and to toilets and some do not have any access to these facilities. Totally 72 people have been interviewed, 58 women and 14 men. 50 of them had access to toilets and 22 did not. All of the interviewees are affected by the heat and some of them have diseases that indicates on health problems caused by no or limited access to toilets. The workers with no access to toilets are the group that have most health problems and are also the group that go for urination and defecation least. The workers with access to toilets are the group that have least health problems and go to the toilet most. Men with no access to toilets go more often than women with no toilets and are more similar with the group with access to toilets. This report is a minor field study, funded by SIDA, and made in collaboration with Sri Ramachandra University, India.