Intersecting Systems of Power Shaping Health and Wellbeing of Urban Waste Workers in the Context of COVID-19 in Vijayawada and Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India

Kakar, Inayat Singh, Mallya, Apeksha, Whittaker, Lana ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4133-3827, Tolhurst, Rachel ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3005-6641 and Garimella, Surekha (2022) 'Intersecting Systems of Power Shaping Health and Wellbeing of Urban Waste Workers in the Context of COVID-19 in Vijayawada and Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India'. Social Sciences, Vol 11, Issue 8, e333.

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Abstract

Background: Waste work in India is an undervalued role relegated to historically marginalised communities. The informal nature of their work coupled with lack of state regulation keeps waste workers trapped in poverty. This study aims to understand how intersecting systems and relations of power impact the agency of waste workers to shape their health and wellbeing.
Methods: We used in-depth interviews, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions to collect primary data from waste worker communities in Vijayawada and Guntur in India. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data using conceptual frameworks relating to wellbeing and power.
Results: Inter-generational poverty and lack of access to social determinants of health keeps waste workers trapped in a cycle of debt and poverty. They experience negative wellbeing owing to material and relational deprivations that are sustained by a nexus of power relations, explained using the themes of “power over”, “power to”, “power with”, and “power-within”.
Conclusions: The ability of communities to exercise agency is constrained by the power exercised on their lives by the state and society. NGOs play a supportive role for the realisation of rights, but the ability of waste workers to organize and effect change is limited to coping strategies.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	WA Public Health > WA 30 Socioeconomic factors in public health (General) WA Public Health > Sanitation. Environmental Control > General Sanitation and Environmental Control > WA 670 General works WA Public Health > Waste > WA 778 Waste products. Waste disposal WC Communicable Diseases > Virus Diseases > Viral Respiratory Tract Infections. Respirovirus Infections > WC 506 COVID-19
Faculty: Department:	Clinical Sciences & International Health > International Public Health Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci11080333
SWORD Depositor:	JISC Pubrouter
Depositing User:	JISC Pubrouter
Date Deposited:	08 Dec 2022 15:37
Last Modified:	13 Jun 2023 15:14
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/20892

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