title: Street vending and waste picking in developing countries: a long-standing hazardous occupational activity of the urban poor.
abstract: Uncontrolled urbanization in developing countries has led to widespread urban poverty and increased susceptibility to environmental exposures owing to the hazardous occupational activities of the urban poor. Street vending and waste picking are the dominant works undertaken by the urban poor, and besides the physical hazards, it also exposes them to several pathogens and high levels of air pollutants present in the outdoor environment. The situation has severe consequences for the health of the workers. Eliminating these occupational activities from the urban landscape of developing countries should therefore receive urgent attention from the global health community and governments. In this article, we provide evidence to support this policy recommendation by documenting exposure experiences of the workers, the associated adverse health effects, whilst also outlining measures for addressing the problem sustainably. We conclude that with the adoption of the sustainable development goals (SDG), governments now have a commitment to address poverty and the associated occupational health hazards experienced by the poor through their choices to help achieve the health-related SDG target (3.9) of substantially reducing the number of deaths and illnesses from hazardous chemicals and air, water, and soil pollution and contamination by 2030.
authors.affiliation: a Public Health Research Group, Department of Biomedical Sciences , School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Cape Coast , Cape Coast , Ghana.|b Faculty of Medicine, Center for Environmental and Respiratory Health Research , University of Oulu , Oulu , Finland.
authors.forename: Adeladza Kofi
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5868-6402
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Amegah
authors.affiliation: b Faculty of Medicine, Center for Environmental and Respiratory Health Research , University of Oulu , Oulu , Finland.
authors.forename: Jouni J K
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4168-4683
authors.initials: JJK
authors.lastname: Jaakkola
mesh_terms: D000397:Air Pollution; D003132:Commerce; D003906:Developing Countries; D004651:Employment; D006801:Humans; D016272:Occupational Health; D011203:Poverty; D014505:Urban Population; D014866:Waste Products
chemical_list: D014866:Waste Products
keywords: Developing countries; Occupational activity; Street vending; Urban poor; Waste picking