Occupational Health-Seeking Behavior Among Slum Dwellers: An Anthropological Perspective

Abstract (English)

Abstract:
Occupational health remains a very crucial yet unexcavated issue in the urban context of Bangladesh. This research explores the occupational health-seeking behavior of slum dwellers, focusing on how social inequalities, cultural practices, and financial constraints influence their health-seeking process. This research will be conducted in the slum of Masimpur in the Sylhet district in Bangladesh, where I will be deeply navigating the social positioning, economic condition, and precarity of slum people that shape the perception and agency about different health-seeking processes. To be precise, it will explore the elements and practices of slum dwellers regarding their health-seeking behavior, which is influenced by their respective occupations and social practices. Additionally, exposure to hazardous work environments and scarcity of adequate occupational security directly reflect upon their exploited labor systems, which leads to vulnerability. Following the framework of critical medical anthropology, this study will investigate the political and economic domain of health as occupational vulnerabilities influence both perceptions and practices of health-seeking among slum people. This study also explores the health inequalities that are embedded in slum settings on account of having a variety of individual choices and social networks in terms of the health-seeking process. This research will contribute to the domain of Medical Anthropology by illustrating the socio-cultural construction of the health-seeking behavior among slum dwellers in Bangladesh.
Keywords: Occupational health, Slum, Agency, Critical Medical Anthropology, Social networks.