Acute pesticide poisoning amongst adolescent girls and women in northern Tanzania

Elikana Lekei,Jones Kapeleka,Aiwerasia V Ngowi,Leslie London

doi:10.1186/s12889-020-8374-9

Abstract

BackgroundAcute pesticide poisoning (APP) is reported to affect community health worldwide but its burden in Tanzania is unknown particularly in women. This study examines APP involving adult females and adolescent girls 10 to 19 years in 3 regions of Tanzania which are famous for coffee and vegetable production.MethodsOver the period of 12 months, health facility-based surveillance for cases of APP was implemented in 10 Tanzanian healthcare facilities in 2006.ResultsThe study identified 108 APP cases of whom 31 (28.7%) occurred amongst adolescent girls. Suicide was the leading poisoning circumstances (60.2%) and the most vulnerable women were 20–29 years old who comprised 38.4% of all cases with suicide as circumstance.Organophosphates (OPs), zinc phosphide, paraquat and endosulfan were common amongst known reported poisoning agents. The annual APP incidence, mortality and Case Fatality Rate for women were 5.1/100,000, 0.2/100,000 and 3.7/100, respectively.ConclusionAPP amongst women in Tanzania is common and this call for diverse preventive interventions to reduce poisoning incidents.

Highlights

Acute pesticide poisoning (APP) is documented as a serious public health problem in Tanzania [1, 2] and other parts of the world [3,4,5,6,7,8,9] due to its adverse human health effects
Evidence of APP occurring in women is documented in studies from Tanzania [2, 10], Uganda [11], Kenya [12], South Africa [13, 14], India [15], China [16], Nepal [17], Sri Lanka [18], Iran [19] and Ethiopia [20]
The study indicates that acute pesticide poisoning is common among women in northern Tanzania with estimated Incidence rate (IR) of 5.1/100,000, Mortality rate (MR) of 0.2/100,000 and Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 3.7%

Summary

Introduction

Acute pesticide poisoning (APP) is documented as a serious public health problem in Tanzania [1, 2] and other parts of the world [3,4,5,6,7,8,9] due to its adverse human health effects. The Burden of Disease due to pesticide exposure, amongst women, may be substantially underestimated. Amongst children, APP may be an under-reported problem globally. A WHO study reported that over 30% of the global burden of disease amongst children can be attributed. Acute pesticide poisoning (APP) is reported to affect community health worldwide but its burden in Tanzania is unknown in women. This study examines APP involving adult females and adolescent girls 10 to 19 years in 3 regions of Tanzania which are famous for coffee and vegetable production

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion