Health Outcomes Among Garment Workers in Low-Middle Income Countries: A Scoping Review

Objective: We conducted a scoping review to explore the excessive burden of disease and injury that garment industry workers experience in low-middle income countries (LMIC). Evidence Acquisition: We employed Arksey and O’Malley’s methodology for scoping review to systematically identify and review eligible articles. A research question, “What is the available evidence in existing literature on health outcomes among workers in garments industry in LMIC?” guided the review. We synthesized and reviewed the existing evidence of health outcomes among garment workers in LMIC from these articles. Eligibility criteria for the articles included peer-reviewed research articles of studies conducted in LMIC and specified common health outcomes among garment industry workers. We included articles from 2010 to 2016 and were published in English. Results: Nineteen studies from LMIC were included yielding descriptions of seven groups of health problems: orthopedic, respiratory, nutrition and digestive, vision or hearing, dermatological, female reproductive, and other health problems. Females represented majority of most study samples highlighting key disparities in women’s health outcomes such as nutrition and reproductive health needs. Conclusions: Physical and mental health burdens are high among garment workers in LMIC. In addition, addressing the health needs of garment workers is a major women’s health issue. Our findings suggest the needs for a better documentation and research of health outcomes related to work among garment industry workers to address work conditions and health risks in LMIC.