AP- At soaring rate, Nepalis seeking jobs abroad come home dead
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[quote]A tiny young woman crouches just outside the airport, crying softly into her thin shawl. It's cold out, but her sleeping toddler is heavy and warm in her arms.
Travelers swarm around: Himalayan trekkers load up expedition backpacks. A Chinese tour group boards a bus. A dozen flight attendants in crisp blue suits and heels click by.
Saro Kumari Mandal, 26, covers her head completely, a bundle of grief.
Hundreds of young Nepali men excitedly wave final goodbyes to friends and family. On this day 1,500 will fly out of the Kathmandu airport bound for jobs mostly in Malaysia, Qatar or Saudi Arabia — jobs that are urgently needed by the people of this desperately poor country.
But on this day, too, six young men will come back in wooden caskets, rolled like suitcases out of baggage claim on luggage carts.
On the wooden lid of one someone has written in black marker: "Human Remains, Balkisun Mandal Khatwe, Male — 26 years — Nepali."
Saro's husband — another victim of a hidden and escalating tragedy.
The number of Nepali workers going abroad has more than doubled since the country began promoting foreign labor in recent years: from about 220,000 in 2008 to about 500,000 in 2015. Yet the number of deaths among those workers has risen much faster in the same period. One out of every 2,500 workers died in 2008; last year one out of every 500 died, according to an Associated Press analysis of data released by Nepal's Ministry of Labour and Employment.
In total, over 5,000 workers from this small country have died working abroad since 2008— more than the number of U.S. troops killed in the Iraq War.
The causes, in many cases, have been mysterious. Natural death, heart attack or cardiac arrest are listed for nearly half the deaths. Most families are notified that their loved ones simply went to bed and never woke up. That's exactly what Saro was told.
But now medical researchers say these deaths fit a familiar pattern: Every decade or so, dozens, or even hundreds, of seemingly healthy Asian men working abroad in poor conditions start dying in their sleep. It happened in the U.S. in the late 1970s, in Singapore about a decade later and more recently in China. The suspected killer even has a name: Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome.
Next year, an international consortium is launching to investigate and hopefully offer solutions.
For today's arrivals, they're too late.[/quote]
[url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f7894887573e45169bd6c44e7cb33942/soaring-rate-nepalis-seeking-jobs-abroad-come-home-dead]AP[/url]
Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome.
what a name. 5000 workers dead, half because of natural death. weird
Does this affect only Asian people? If so, how? What is it in their genes that cause them to die in this way?
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;51561915]Does this affect only Asian people? If so, how? What is it in their genes that cause them to die in this way?[/QUOTE]
If they knew it would probably be called Sudden Explained Nocturnal Death Syndrome.
[quote]Abroad, Nepali workers also eat twice a day, but the mainstay is whole meal flour flatbread with some pickle or a vegetable, and once a day they have chicken. Some in the Middle East say [B]they drink less water at their desert worksites than they do in mountainous Nepal[/B] because, as Hindus, [B]they're not allowed to use Muslim bathrooms[/B] and are forced to wait for hours.
No one has identified a single cause of SUNDS fatalities — medical journal discussions include genetics, infection and nutritional deficiencies. And in Nepal, the syndrome is not being considered at this point. Instead, Nepali authorities say it could be stress, even homesickness, brought on by physically demanding jobs in extremely hot climates.[/quote]
This is the darker side of globalization that must be combatted. International workers' rights, cooperation between governments and greater awareness to allow pressure mount on the employers. They will continue to do this as long as they continue to be allowed in dark. The alternatives are continued poor treatment or confining poor people to their lands without opportunities, which they take even with the great risks involved. There's so much to be done here.
The autopsies performed are susceptible to corruption and collusion between employers and local hospitals, so they might not be entirely reliable.
[editline]21st December 2016[/editline]
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;51561915]Does this affect only Asian people? If so, how? What is it in their genes that cause them to die in this way?[/QUOTE]
[quote]While the causes of the previous strings of deaths have never been pinpointed, the number of fatalities dropped in each case when workplace safety, housing and diet were improved.[/quote]
They're being mistreated.
[QUOTE=BlackMageMari;51561915]Does this affect only Asian people? If so, how? What is it in their genes that cause them to die in this way?[/QUOTE]
No idea. In Ohio there is a bacteria native only to that location. People who work outside and work that involves digging the soil such as farmers lineman ditch diggers so forth gets affected by this. It's harmless butt it can cause a lot of false negatives on medical tests
Maybe Napoli's need something only available in their host country
That's a mouthful for a disease name when it can be named exaustion and overwork.
This seems similar how North Korea is exporting workers
Shitholes like the United Arab Emirates are largely responsible for this, correct me if I'm wrong but especially in places like Saudi Arabia workers are basically trapped there as slave labour with no form of recourse.
[QUOTE=GordonZombie;51562122]Shitholes like the United Arab Emirates are largely responsible for this, correct me if I'm wrong but especially in places like Saudi Arabia workers are basically trapped there as slave labour with no form of recourse.[/QUOTE]
No kidding. There's slow progress on legislation, and even then enforcement remains a question.
[quote]Since October 18, 2015, when a package of 38 amendments to the Labor Law went into effect, the Labor Ministry has issued directives introducing or raising fines for employers who violate regulations. These include prohibitions on [B]confiscating migrant workers’ passports, failing to pay salaries on time, and failing to provide copies of contracts to employees[/B]. However, domestic workers, mostly migrant women who work in family homes, are still excluded from the Labor Law and its enforcement mechanisms. And [B]some of the new regulations institutionalize discrimination against women[/B].[/quote]
[url]https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/11/15/saudi-arabia-steps-toward-migrant-workers-rights[/url]
[QUOTE=GordonZombie;51562122]Shitholes like the United Arab Emirates are largely responsible for this, correct me if I'm wrong but especially in places like Saudi Arabia workers are basically trapped there as slave labour with no form of recourse.[/QUOTE]
Its common to hear of employers confiscating and locking away passports in many ME countries and then abusing the vulnerable migrant workers.
My uncle died of SADS, and he was upper class travelling abroad to Saudi Arabia.
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