Health Profile of Working Fishermen in Coastal City: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Introduction: Fishing community is one of the unique, traditional and endemic community. Fishing is one the
major occupation of Uttara Kannada district. Fishermen are a vulnerable group with some unfavourable life styles and vulnerable for injuries, skin and respiratory allergic manifestations and certain other diseases. Local surveys need to be conducted to understand the extent of morbidity patterns among fishermen and thereby devising a policy approach to suit the local needs
Methodology: This study was done as a population based cross – sectional study among the fishing community in Karwar which is located at coastal boundary of Uttarkannada district, Karnataka. The study was conducted for a period of 6 months from June to December 2019. All the families of Fishermen community coming under field practice area of Chittakula UHC of the Govt medical college of the district were constituted as a part of our study. A total of 472 families resided in the area constituting of 1419 population of which 724 working members in the occupation of fishing.
Result: Among them Percentage of male working members 33.1% (470) and 17.9% (254) were female working members. It was seen that 79.1% of males and 23.3% of females were literates. 32.1% were below the age of 20 years, 37.6% were between 21-40 years ang 30.3% constituted above 40 years. It was found that 64.08% (464) of the working people in fishing sector had one or the other morbidity.
Conclusion: There is a high presence of musculoskeletal disorders, respiratory diseases, skin problems, noncommunicable and communicable diseases in the fishermen community.