Street and Working Children of Delhi,¹ India, Misusing Toluene: An Ethnographic Exploration

Abstract

Our qualitative study explored: the perceptions of street children indulging in whitener fluid misuse; the social, economic, and cultural determinants of use; and users' views regarding effective preventive and control strategies. Forty-five in-depth interviews and three focus group discussions were conducted between March and December 2003. A purposive sample of those working children who were using toluene was selected by Snowball sampling. The paper discusses the: determinants of initiation and continued use; drug user social networks; psycho emotional deprivation and frustrations of these children; socio-cultural aspects like work driven need; others' attitudinal response towards them and their work; parental support or the lack of it; and strategies for prevention of this misuse.

Keywords:

• ethnography
• substance misuse
• toluene
• street children
• perceptions
• determinants

Notes

¹Delhi is one of the states of Union of India and New Delhi is the Capital of India.

²1 USD (U.S. Dollar) = 45 INR (Indian National Rupee).

³Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are two of the underdeveloped states in the northern part of Union of India.

⁴West Bengal is one of the eastern states of Union of India.

⁵Participant code—FGD number.

⁶Participant code—In-depth interviews.

⁷Haridwar is one of the holy cities of Uttar Pradesh.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rajeev Seth

Dr. Rajeev Seth, Consultant Pediatrician. Dr. Seth is a Consultant Pediatrician and Neonatologist at prestigious hospitals like Apollo, Batra, and VIMHANS, New Delhi. He is actively involved in a few of the NGOs like Project Concern International, New Delhi (USAID funded Project for street children, urban slum, and HIV-affected population) and provides charitable medical services to these underserved children at four different clinics/centers in New Delhi. He has many honors and award to his credit and has published research work in internationally indexed journals. His areas of interest include infectious diseases, especially tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, substance misuse; and neonatology.

Atul Kotwal

Dr. Atul Kotwal is a senior specialist in Preventive and Social Medicine and Epidemiologist in the Indian Army. Along with his job he is at present pursuing a Ph.D. at the Center of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He has served as Health Officer of various Cantonments in India and also as a Consultant for Public Health in Botswana, Africa for a period of 3 years. His areas of interest are communicable diseases, especially malaria and HIV; cancers; substance misuse, especially tobacco and other gateway substances; a special interest in the use/misuse of injections; various injection technologies available, and steps required to reduce frequency while increasing the safety of injections. Along with his work he is presently involved in research in various fields using qualitative as well as quantitative approaches. He is also involved in teaching research methodology in the Indian Army.

K. K. Ganguly

Dr. K. K. Ganguly is an Anthropologist trained in Community Medicine. He has done extensive sociocultural field work, mainly dealing with health and allied area since 1981. His main studies have been on health culture of urban slums and the role of health facilities in serving the marginalized people of the metropolitan city of Delhi (published as a book entitled, Health and Culture of a Metropolitan Resettlement: Issues and Perspectives); effect of chronic drought on the health of people of Rajasthan and its impact on their social and cultural life style including demographic shifts due to migrations; drought, night blindness and its impact on day to day life pattern of desert people of rural Rajasthan; eco-stress adaptation mechanism through drug addiction (opium usage) in rural Rajasthan and its impact on the society (published in ); he worked through the Participatory Learning and Action Approach (PLA) to empower and rehabilitate addict's dependents (published in British Journal of Social Work. 2002). He has authored a review chapter titled Opium usage in Rajasthan, India: a sociocultural perspective. in Drugs in Global Context: Comparative, Cultural and Criminological Perspectives. Ed Ross Coomber, Free Association Books, UK (In Press).