A descriptive study on street children living in a southern city of Turkey

We aimed to determine the social-demographic characteristics and rate of occurrence of hepatitis B infection of children living/working in the streets in Adana, southern city of Turkey. The application forms of 52 children were assessed. Physical examination could be performed for 39 children. The median age was 14 years. The educational status of the children and parents was low. Shoe polishing (22%), selling different goods (22%) and scavenging (33%) were the most common type of work activities. Eighteen (35%) pointed out that they were exposed to beating and attack, three (6%) were sexually abused. Twenty-one (40%) of them were involved in physical fighting and two (4%) were involved in fights resulting in stabbing. Twenty-four (67%) of the children were under 50 percentile for height. Nineteen percent of the children were heavy or medium smokers. Among the 38 children whose hepatitis B markers were checked, HbsAg was positive in 2 (5%), anti-HbcAg in 12 (32%), and anti-HbsAg in 9 (24%). Fifteen (39%) blood samples had negative results. A more nationwide, institutional approach to the problem must be created and maintained.