Occupational health programmes basically aim to protect the health of employees. Unfortunately, in India these programes are not given due importance. The concerns discussed in the book have been gradually developed since my first encounter with Textile Workers, which took place during fieldwork in 2003-04 and 2006-07 in the Varanasi-Mirzapur belt, Uttar Pradesh.
The most compelling attribute of this book is its abundance of well thought out, the integration of Morpho-physiological anthropology with medical and nutritional status that compliment the text and research being presented.
Occupational health is undoubtedly an issue that calls for more research by experts and activist. Respiratory problem is one of the major health threats to Textile Workers. It leads to some systemic symptoms in exposed Workers, along with a number of other physical problem like, hearing loss or noise problem, low back pain, colour vision dysfunction in long term solvent (dye) exposure. Up till now the studies are mostly clinically based.
This literacy work outlines the basic foundation of physical anthropological approaches taking in substantial detail, making an ideal tutorial for a person just entering the field.
It covers the holistic scenario providing important details to guide the student researcher and professional, through the process in a step-by-step manner. A special feature of this book is the originality of study that follows each chapter.
The idea behind this feature grew form an appreciation of the fact that anthropology does not operate in a vacuum. It is a fast developing discipline that studies new societies and examines old ones from new points of view. Consequently, new ideas and models of biological, physiological, medical, occupational, environmental are generated each year by active anthropologists. The present work represent an attempt to help the student abrest of current research in biological anthropology and enable them to experience almost first hand some of the excitement generated by new physiological anthropological ideas and discoveries. |
