CONTEMPORANEOUS HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF CHILD LABOUR IN CAMEROON
Fabien Sundjo - St. Monica University and University of Bamenda, Cameroon
Francis Menjo Baye - University of Yaoundé, Cameroon
John Ebai Egbe - University of Bamenda, Cameroon
Daniel Tambe Mbu - University of Bamenda and University of Dschang, Cameroon
ABSTRACT
This study attempted to investigate the contemporaneous effect of child labour on child health, using individual records of the 2007 Cameroon household consumption survey. Specifically, the study aimed at; investigating whether child labour effectively displaces excellent or good health, scrutinizing the extent of the contemporaneous effect of child labour on child health and investigating the sector where children can work in order to enhance family income without jeopardizing their health if they must work. In order to resolve in a step wise manner, potential estimation related problems, use was made of the bivariate probit model, the ordered probit model and the two-stage residual inclusion technique. Among the several econometric results, the correlation coefficient suggested the absence of any trade-off relationship between child labour and health status. In addition, though working children were more likely to report better self-assessed health status as a whole, those working in the agricultural sector were more likely to report poorer health status. This results policy wise, suggests that if children must work, then they should be oriented toward non-agricultural related activities.
