Health

While the informal sector is rapidly emerging as the major source of employment in poor countries, little attention has been paid to the health hazards encountered by workers in this sector. Women, the majority of informal sector workers in most parts of the world, are particularly at risk. Street vendors in Uganda receive few protections for a broad range of economic and social rights by the Ugandan state, including the right to health (Article 12 - International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)) tying their access to these rights to their independent income generation. Poor government service provision means that vendors also need to pay for things that might, under different circumstances, be free or more affordable, including healthcare. In addition, their time constraints make it difficult for them to benefit from health programmes and activities.

Many vendors are vulnerable to ill health due to the lack of shelter, exposure to the weather elements, injuries associated with lifting heavy wares/carrying them for long distances and other stressful circumstances common to their work environment. Income levels are a key factor in determining accessibility to health care, placing those in the low-income bracket, as most vendors are, in danger of neglect by the health care system. Furthermore, vendors often work in environments that expose them to hazards such as accidents and illnesses.11 Vendors often trade along pathways of congested traffic and concentrated air pollutants exacerbate conditions such as asthma, allergies, tuberculosis and chronic bronchitis. For some vendors, physical injury may be caused by prolonged participation in excessively strenuous physical activities such as loading and off-loading their goods on a daily basis. Pro bono medical drives to access services like family planning, HIV/AIDS and cervical cancer tests have, in most cases, not targeted street vendors and yet their health despite their equal right and need to have such services.

Lack of good access to water and sanitation has implications for women’s experience of poverty. The provision of water for households is the primary duty of women in Uganda. Women usually spend hours walking long distances to fetch and carry heavy loads of water every day. This has negative consequences for their time and health. Because of its association with women, the provision of water for households is not considered a critical decision making area by policy-makers. Markets are characterized by a general lack of cleanliness and poor hygiene standards, which can provide for a poor working environment and even, in extreme cases, cause health concerns. For women street vendors, illness is not only expensive to treat, but can also cause them to forego essential income if they are unable to work.12

Women street vendors’ access to health is not guaranteed. Healthcare costs are also high, and can make treatment unaffordable. Therefore, we demand:

1. The Government and the Vendor Association Administration, must work together to create a safe and healthy environment for vendors.

2.

3. The Government must promote safe motherhood through antenatal, intra-natal and post-natal care programmes targeting women street vendors.

The Government must ensure access to safe, effective and affordable methods of family planning.

11  Graeme Young (2018) De-Democratisation and the Rights of Street Vendors in Kampala, Uganda. Available online via https://www.researchgate. net/publication/326355554 12  Graeme William Young (2018) Informal Vending and the State in Kampala, Uganda. St. John’s College