This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to determine the health status of street vendors in selected public areas in Zamboanga City. A total of 309 street vendors from 11 vending sites were included using Time-Location Sampling. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used and was followed by a medical check-up conducted by a licensed physician from the City Health Office. An interview was then done to further explore the findings. There were 16 common health complaints reported; the top 3 of which were body aches (72%), colds (36%) and cough (28%). Reflecting these were the 3 leading present health problems, which included musculoskeletal pain (56.6%), URTI (21.4%) and error of refraction (20.4%). More so, only 8.7% were identified to be psychologically well. Of the remainder, 36.2%, 43.4% and 11.7% were noted to have mild, moderate and severe psychological distress, respectively. The most common causes of psychological distress were financial problem (n=211) and lack of government support (n=149). With regards to their health behavior, 93.5% do not use PPE while only 2.6% go for a regular check-up and 0.3% had an adult vaccination. Similarly, 85.1% of them usually ignore illness-related problem. The findings also revealed that the most common occupational hazards were car fumes and air pollution (n=298) as well as harsh weather (n=290). Their duration of exposure was calculated to be 7.5 hours a day for 3.4 years on average. These findings suggest the street vendors’ frequent exposure to different occupational hazards but poor protective strategies and health-seeking behavior. In conclusion, the street vendors in selected public areas of Zamboanga City were noted to have poor health status in terms of their physical, psychological, behavioral and occupational health.

Keyword: Health status of street vendors