Occupational Diseases and Health Awareness through Multimedia: A Case Study among Women at Risk Employed in Coir Retting in Kerala, India

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Kerala is a major coconut producing state of India. Coir Industry is an important sector as far as economy of Kerala is concerned. The industry provides direct employment to more than 3.5lakh workers, majority of whom are female. Retting of husk presents unique and extremely serious problems along the coastal belt. Besides the ecological degradation, the unhygienic conditions prevailing around the area results in health hazard problems to the people engaged in this cottage industry. Field survey results indicated that 57 % suffered from job-oriented disease like skin disease, blindness, headache, backbone pains and respiratory disease. Hence there arose the need to make them aware of the various health hazards, its causes and effects. The search for a strategy which enables to give them awareness regarding health education results in an awareness program through multimedia. This book is a report of the empirical study stated above. It gives a detail account of the design and development of the ‘Health Literacy Package’ and its implementation on the women engaged in coir retting. I hope the book is a ready reference for multimedia developers as well as for social activists who could use multimedia technology for social changes.