Introduction:

Child labor is a global problem in which social, cultural, and economic factors intervene. Children work in all economic sectors, mainly in agriculture and are exposed to occupational risks that can affect their health and leave consequences for adult life.

Objective:

To determine the effects that work has on the health of children and adolescents.

Methods:

A bibliographic review was carried out in the Pubmed and Embase search engines with the "child labor" thesaurus and research published between 2017 and 2022 was included.

Results:

Consequences for health due to exposure to chemical, biomechanical, psychosocial and safety risks were identified. Within the chemical substances, metals and pesticides were the substances with the greatest impact, due to endocrine, renal, and gastrointestinal effects, while biomechanical risk factors such as repetitive movements and inadequate postures cause painful disorders in the spine and extremities of working children. Exposure to safety hazards is associated with fatal workplace accidents, especially in the agriculture sector. Additionally, working children can develop anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, affecting mental health in childhood and adolescence, and leaving consequences for adult life.

Conclusions:

There is a relationship between child labor and negative effects on children's health, this should motivate decision-making to achieve the eradication of child labor in all economic activities worldwide.

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