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Abstract
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BACKGROUND
Agriculture is a major field of India's economy. Agriculture is the primary livelihood for over 58 % of rural households. 500,000 - 1,000,000 people globally suffer from health consequences as a result of pesticide poisoning every year, according to the World Health Organisation. In countries such as India, pesticide poisoning is a major health problem and is more prevalent. The purpose of this study is to find out the perceptions & practices followed by agricultural workers from study area with regard to use of pesticides.
METHODS
This was a community-based cross-sectional study. 380 Agricultural workers across three villages participated in the study and all agricultural workers who were > 18 years of age and were handling pesticides for > 1 year were included in study. Simple random sampling method was used, and data was collected using interview schedule.
RESULTS
35 % of the study participants were educated up to middle school and 49.21 % were in age group of 38 - 57 years. 63.84 % participants thought pesticides are harmful while only 25 % knew about route of entry of pesticides into the human body. 52.1 % of the study participants had headache as a morbidity feature followed by skin irritation in 44.2 %. The association between perception of harmful effects of pesticides and gender, age, education & socio-economic status was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.012, p = 0.004, p < 0.001, p < 0.001 respectively).
CONCLUSIONS
About 2 / 3rd of study participants thought that pesticides are injurious to health & environment. While only 1 / 4th participants knew about of route of entry of pesticides into the body. Headache followed by skin irritation were the commonest reported toxic effects of pesticide use. Association between perception of harmful effects of pesticides and socio-demographic profile was found to be statistically significant.
KEY WORDS
Pesticides, Agricultural Workers, Health Hazards, Rural Central India
Language: en |