Risk Factors for Non-Fatal Injuries among Children Working in Philippine Agriculture

Charita Castro, Washington University in St. Louis

In the Philippines, there are approximately 2.5 million children working in agriculture. These children encounter health risks that may result in fatal or non-fatal injuries. Article 3 of the International Labor Organization’s Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor calls on member states to undertake tripartite consultations to specify and create a list of “hazardous work” for children. Using data from the 2001 Philippine Survey on Children, this study presents a systematic methodology to identify hazardous work and highlights key risk factors for non-fatal injuries to children working in agriculture. Findings from this study demonstrate that children working in agriculture had a five times relative risk of injury compared to children working in other industries. Adjusted odds ratios from a logistic regression indicated that the most robust risk factor for the occurrence of an injury included the use of tools, increasing the odds of injury by three times.