Vol. 12, Special Issue 7 (2023)

Background: Labourers play a crucial role in performing various daily chores on dairy farms but they remain out of focus in majorities of schemes and outreach programmes. Owing to scant research, the present study evaluated the self-declared health problems in dairy farm workers of Punjab. Dairy is one of the most hazardous industries and dairy labourers are one of the most ignored and deprived sections of this sector.

Methods: A total of 780 dairy farm labourers (Periurban -300; rural small scale-240; Rural commercial -240) were interviewed using a pretested structured interview schedule (Cronbach's alpha 0.75). Statistical analysis including descriptive statistics, Chi-square test of independence, and F-test were used to draw the inference.

Results: The majority of respondents had abnormal blood pressure (60.87%), body fatigue (72.04%), and various types of body pains (84.60%), but only 13.06% were found to have unhealthy body mass index (BMI). Further, blood pressure, BMI, and other health-related ailments viz. body aches, disc problems, allergies, injuries, GIT problems, etc varied significantly (p<0.05) among the three categories of workers studied. Overall, the majority of dairy labourers (56%) had medium health status and later differ significantly (ᵡ2= 22.81, p<0.01) between the three categories of labourers studied. Dairy farm labours required better knowledge of dairying, work-related health problems, safety along with the provision of health insurance, and easy access to health facilities.