Seasonal workers face major problems

ESKİŞEHİR - Anatolia News Agency

Dermatological problems are widespread among seasonal workers. AA photo

Among seasonal farm workers, men face depression, women experience fertility problems and children are prone to anemia and nutrition disorders, according to new academic research.

Eskişehir Osmangazi University’s Faculty of Medicine conducted research on 792 seasonal farm workers in three different tent cities where they stayed in Eskişehir, according to an Anatolia news agency report.

Professor Selma Metintaş, who lead the research, said most of the seasonal farm workers came to Eskişehir from the Southeast Anatolia region of Turkey in March or April and stayed in the town until November.

“We have reached 133 families and asked about their lives, social and economic levels, their nutritional habits and the difficulties that they experience. They generally come as an entire family, with women and children. And the children start working at age 10,” Metintaş said.

Metintaş said they had reached striking results in their research.

“Women get married at a very early age, and they have many children. Depression, orthodontic problems and dermatological problems are widespread among the men. Women have a lot of fertility problems and illnesses. They also have nutrition disorders because they consume predominantly tea and cereals. The consumption of fruit and vegetables is very low. They eat white meat once a week,” Metinaş said.

“They mostly live in tents. We need to create a special health-service model for these people. They need to have running water, toilets and baths, and we need to provide healthy nutrition for them.”