There are an estimated 10 to 15 million artisanal gold miners worldwide, working in about 70 countries. Women, children and men estimated to be more than 400,000 people in Uganda are directly engaged in the mining activity, and an additional 1.5 million are benefitting indirectly.
In Uganda, women are busy mining without protection, which requires addressing these new risks to human health in vulnerable communities in rural areas. Particularly, because even access to better health services is limited in such remote mining sites.