Precarious Work and Health Care among Working-Class Men in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Introduction: We analyze the relation between work and health drawing on the labor experiences of adult men who reside in a working-class neighborhood located in the periphery of Buenos Aires City. More specifically, we analyze how precarious jobs impact on their psychophysical health through work conditions that expose them to diverse risks and deprivations for quality of life and health care. Methodology: Data come from qualitative, in-depth, interviews that we conducted with adult men as part of a larger study on health care with residents of the neighborhood. Results: Precarious jobs affect health in various ways. Some of the interviewees have been exposed to physical and psychosocial risks due to the work conditions and environment in the workplace. The negative consequences that precarious jobs have for quality of life are also salient, by limiting their capability to plan ahead, organize everyday life and develop self-care practices. Conclusions: We highlight the importance of considering precarious work as a social determinant of health, since it is a multidimensional trait that helps to analyze its negative consequences on working-class men. We also point to the adverse consequences for health of precarious jobs throughout the life-course, in part, due to age-based chronic conditions but also due to the cumulative disadvantages produced by precarious and vulnerable work trajectories.

Primary care health workers during the covid-19 pandemic in the outskirts of buenos aires

The COVID-19 pandemic has dislocated work routines within health facilities due to new public health priorities. In circumstances characterized by uncertainty and risk in the face of an unknown disease and the constantly changing care protocols, questions arise about how members of healthcare teams have experienced these changes. We analyze the experience of health workers in a primary care center in the periphery of Buenos Aires during 2020, and describe the coordination strategies they developed to achieve greater anticipation and safety in the workplace. © 2021 Grupo Editor Yocavil. All rights reserved.