Sigamani Panneer - Health, Safety and Well-Being of Workers in the Informal Sector in India: Lessons for Emerging Economies

is Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland. He was also Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. His research has included the development of robust occupational exposure assessment strategies for a variety of airborne contaminants. He has pioneered the use of novel Bayesian statistical methods that synthesize exposure models, monitoring data and probabilistic expert judgement. His additional areas of expertise include developing exposure assessment methods for nanoparticles and the use of expert judgement in risk assessment for nanomaterials and nanotechnology policy in the areas of occupational health and nanomedicine.

That health policy affects the living conditions and life chances of people is not new. What is new is an effort to make the impact of health policies explicit and, where possible, to alter policies in the direction of the health, safety and well-being of all, including workers throughout the informal sector. Health policy is an integral part of the development, which is guided by sound governance.

Through case studies and essays about Indias informal sector and its intersection with health policies, this book examines the multidimensional problems of people characterized by low income, unstable employment and inadequate protection. The term health derives from an Anglo-Saxon word meaning whole and signals that health concerns the integrity, soundness and the well-being of the whole person. A simple feedback model of the relationship between health and health care focuses on factors of need for and access to medical care and cure in the health system. An expanded version of the model introduces environmental factors (social, physical and genetic) and linkages among individual responses, health functions and well-being.

The expanded model distinguishes between disease as recognized by providers in the healthcare system and functional health as experienced by individuals. The two perspectives have different purposes. A providers concept of disease guides the appropriate application of available medical knowledge and technology, whereas patients are concerned with the impact of illness on their lives. Beyond the direct physical maintenance (or restoration) of health, the category of well-being entails a sense of life satisfaction of individuals, that is the ultimate objective of health policy.

The chapters of this edited volume address a potpourri of topics. Some focus on specific target populations like women, migrants and agricultural labourers. Others are more broad-gauge in addressing migration, demography and age cohorts. And still, others address issues of gender, special needs and even spirituality. While conceptual or theoretical frameworks are rare, all the chapters richly describe empirical examples of problems in the informal sector of Indias economy and are well worth reading.