According to a 2012 study by US-based NGO, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, over 45,000 people in Bangladesh are employed in manufacturing inexpensive cigarettes known as bidis and this number includes “many women and children working in household based establishments where they make low wages and live in poverty.”

A 2011 research paper about bidi workers in Bangladesh, published in the journal Tobacco Control, says that working conditions can involve poor ventilation and exposure to tobacco dust, which can cause a range of health problems including respiratory and skin diseases. International attention has been focused on workers’ safety in Bangladesh since the disaster at Rana Plaza, a garment factory complex which collapsed in April, killing 1,132 workers.