Abstract
Protecting the health of farmworkers is a crucial issue. Previous studies report that safety training and educational interventions might increase farmworkers’ protective behaviors. The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of distributing a checklist as an interventional measure for pesticide protection in rural Asia, where pesticide poisoning is a major problem. This study was a community-based interventional study, using the distribution of a checklist with pesticide protective habits in Narail district, Bangladesh, with a total of 100 eligible males. Two questionnaire surveys were conducted before distributing the checklist and 25 days after. Change between the baseline and follow-up surveys was measured by frequency scores of protective behavior. The average pesticide-protective behavioral score increased from 4.58 in the baseline survey to 8.11 in the follow-up. Additionally, the checklist was more effective in the group with higher education, the younger group, and the group with lower pesticide-protective behavioral scores in the baseline survey. The paper checklist on protective behaviors against pesticide poisoning was effective because of the increase in the frequency of such positive behavior among farmworkers. Thus, intervention measures should be implemented to increase the knowledge and awareness regarding pesticide protection habits to protect the health of farmworkers.
Highlights
Vulnerable persons are defined as those with disease, disability, or related personal factors in poor societal or environmental conditions or in vulnerable circumstances because of social or legal stigmatization associated with their activity or identity
The objective of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of the distribution of the checklist—which summarizes 14 points on pesticide protective behaviors—as an interventional measure for pesticide protection in rural Asia, where pesticide poisoning is a crucial problem
A total of 14 farmworkers had symptoms associated with pesticide application, and the majority of symptoms were neurological, including dizziness, headache, and numbness (Supplementary Material Table S2)
Summary
Vulnerable persons are defined as those with disease, disability, or related personal factors in poor societal or environmental conditions or in vulnerable circumstances because of social or legal stigmatization associated with their activity or identity. Improving the health status of vulnerable populations is a crucial part of delivering essential health care to all [2]. Agricultural workers represent a potentially vulnerable population due to a combination of unique social and cultural risk factors, including exposure to inherent hazards, being of lower economic status, living in rural areas, or having low educational status [3]. It has been reported that pesticide exposure among agricultural workers was linked to specific health problems, DNA damage, neurological disorders, and.
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