Livelihood of Street Children and Their Quality of Life: A Cross Sectional Study in Etawah District

K Kiran; Naresh Pal Singh; Dhiraj Kumar  Srivastava; Ankita  Sharma; Mahima Chandini

doi:10.5455/njcm.20200501061714

Authors

K Kiran National Institute of Research in Tuberculosis, Chennai
Naresh Pal Singh Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences, Etawah
Dhiraj Kumar Srivastava Uttar Pradesh University of Medical Sciences, Etawah
Ankita Sharma Govt. Medical College, Shadol
Mahima Chandini World Health Organisation, Shamli

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5455/njcm.20200501061714

Keywords:

Street children, child abuse, quality of life, child labour

Abstract

Introduction: “Street children” is a term used to describe those kids who live and work in streets. Children are exposed to several hazards and catastrophe which lead them to vulnerable and pessimistic experiences. Their daily life and poor quality of life uncover them to various threats that makes them victims for drug trafficking, prostitution, organ trade and slavery.

Material & Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in Etawah city from May 2017 to Oct 2018. Street children aged 13-18 years, who live and/or work on streets of Etawah. Street children were looked for at identified hotspots of street children in Etawah city like market places, railway station, stalls/dhabas/hotels etc. and they were selected for the study by Snowball sampling. Information was extracted from face to face interview using pre-structured questionnaire.

Results: Study enrolled 145 street children, 35% haven’t attended school, 30% leave away from family. Street level vending, working in dhabas and mechanic assistant were common professions. Working children had poor quality of life.

Conclusion: More than four fifth of the street children were working for their survival, street level vending, working in dhabas were common occupations involved. Quality of life was poor among working street children.

References

UNICEF. A study on street children in Zimbabwe. Evalua-tion report. Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children and Adolescents in Zimbabwe. 2001. 89-104

UNICEF. The year of the child [Internet]. [cited 2018 Jul 21]. Available from: https://www.unicef.org/search/search. php?querystring_en=Child_nation_M_Black+Ch15&hits=&type=&navigation=&Go.x=15&Go.y=10

de Benítez ST. State of the World’s Street Children. Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children and Adolescents in Zimba-bwe. Consortium for Street Children London; 2011. 21-36

Embleton L, Mwangi A, Vreeman R, Ayuku D, Braitstein P. The epidemiology of substance use among street children in resource-constrained settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Addiction. 2013; 108(10): 1722–1733.

Ghimire L. Being on the street. Causes, survival strategy and societal perception. An empirical study of street chil-dren in Kathmandu [Master’s Thesis]. 2014. (Unpublished)

Surviving the streets. A census of street children in Delhi by the Institute for Human Development and Save the Chil-dren [Internet]. Resource Centre. 2011 [cited 2018 Jun 28]. Available from: https://resourcecentre.savethe chil-dren.net/library/surviving-streets-census-street-children-delhi-institute-human-development-and-save-children

Sardana S (2015) Mental Health as Correlates of Substance Abuse among Street Children. MOJ Addict Med Ther 1(2): 00006. DOI: 10.15406/mojamt.2015.01.00006

Nanda B, Mondal S. A study on Distress of Street Children in Kolkata Metropolitan City. Religion. 2012; 90: 60.

Consortium for Street Children. Factors That Influence Growth of Street Children Population in Kitale Town, Trans-Nzoia County, Kenya [Internet]. Consortium for Street Children. [cited 2018 Sep 4]. Available from: https://www.streetchildren.org/resources/factors-that-influence-growth-of-street-children-population-in-kitale-town-trans-nzoia-county-kenya/

Gaidhane AM, Syed Zahiruddin Q, Waghmare L, Shanbhag S, Zodpey S, Joharapurkar SR. Substance abuse among street children in Mumbai. Vulnerable Children and Youth Studies. 2008; 3(1): 42–51.

Pagare D, Meena GS, Singh MM, Saha R. Risk factors of substance use among street children from Delhi. Indian Pe-diatrics. 2004; 41(3): 221–226.

WHO. The World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL) [Internet]. WHO. [Accessed on 23/11/2019]. Available from: http://www.who.int/mental_health/ pub-lications/whoqol/en/

UNICEF. A study on street children in Zimbabwe. Evalua-tion report. Orphans and Other Vulnerable Children and Adolescents in Zimbabwe. 2001. 89-104

Save the Children India - Life on streets. Publications [Inter-net]. Save the Children India- Life on streets. [cited 2018 Jun 23]. Available from: https://www.savethechildren.in/ re-source-centre/publications

Surviving the streets. A census of street children in Delhi by the Institute for Human Development and Save the Chil-dren [Internet]. Resource Centre. 2011 [cited 2018 Jun 28]. Available from: https://resourcecentre.savethechildren. net/library/surviving-streets-census-street-children-delhi-institute-human-development-and-save-children

Pune Municipal Corporation. Street Children Survey Report [Internet]. [cited 2018 Aug 25]. Available from: https://pmc.gov.in/en/street-children-survey-report

ActionAid India. Making Street Children Matter [Internet]. 2013 [cited 2018 Aug 25]. Available from: https://www. ac-tionaidindia.org/publication/making-street-children-matter/

Consortium of Street Children. Co-ordination and conver-gence of Delhi District health services programmes and drug use intervention for the out of school child. Available from:https://www.streetchildren.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/delhi-health-services-who.pdf

Mukherjee C. A study on socio-educational and rehabilita-tion status of street children in Kolkata. IOSR Journal of Humanities and Social Science. 2014;19(7):65–102.