ILO’s Better Factories Cambodia in collaboration with Agence Française de Développement (AFD) and Angkor Research and Consulting conducted a study – Garment Workers’ Health, Socio-Economic Status and Food Provision in Factories, which states that the Cambodian garment workers are battling with a disease called anaemia in large numbers. The report also informs that being affected by anaemia is causing chronic fatigue to the garment workers, and thereby hampering production.
Among the 3,302 workers who were randomly selected for the study, one-third of the male garment workers were found to be anaemic. Of the female workers, nearly two-thirds of the pregnant workers were classified as anaemic, while 18 per cent of non-pregnant workers had moderate of severe anaemia. Cases of mass fainting have also gone up at garment factories in the country, rising from 1,686 in 2012 to 1,806 last year.
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Nutritional deficiency of iron, folate, vitamin B12 or other nutrients can cause anaemia. The labour productivity in Cambodia’s garment and footwear sector witnessed a drop of around 14 per cent in the past four years and the trend has continued in 2016 as well. The disease could be among the reasons that are causing low productivity at Cambodian garment factories.
