Abstract:
The study aimed to determine the prevalence of self-reported injuries, skin and
respiratory health problems and related factors among waste collectors in Mbeya
City Council. A cross-sectional design was used in this study, where 100 respondents
highly exposed and 100 not exposed to hazards were recruited. Structured
questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. SPSS software was used for
analysis from which descriptive analysis and cross tabulation with Chi-square test
was used to compare the prevalence of health problems and factors for exposure to
health problems between the two working groups. Results show that there was 77.4%
of respondents reported injuries for refuse handling and 8.5% from non-refuse
handling staff with statistical different (p=0.03). More than three quarters (78.5%) of
refuse handlers reported skin health problems while only 2% of skin health problems
reported from non-refuse handlers. The two proportions were statistically different
(p=0.02). In addition, majority (90.1%) of refuse handlers reported respiratory health
problems whereas only 23.6% of non-refuse handling staff reported respiratory
health problems. The proportions were significantly different (p=0.01). The
difference between the two proportions suggests that refuse handling had significant
contribution for Injuries, skin health problems and respiratory health problems
occurrence reported. All the associations were established at the statistical
significance calculated at p<0.05. The rest of exposure variables due to refuse
handling had insignificant influence on the selected health outcomes. In the
insignificantly associated variables the p-values were greater than 0.05. There was
significantly high prevalence of about 82% injuries, skin health problems and
respiratory health problems among refuse handlers as it was compared to 11.4% for
non-refuse handling staff. To overcome the problems there should be adequate
supply of PPEs to all refuse handlers, training on the proper use of the refuse
handling tools; personal hygiene as well as close health monitoring. Further studies,
to explore in-depth on the diseases associated with refuse handling activities
Description:
PREVALENCE OF SKIN AND
RESPIRATO RY HEALTH PROBLEMS BETWEEN
SOLID WASTE COLLECTORS AND NON-SOLID
WASTE COLLECTORS IN MBEYA CITY COUNCIL
By
Charles Bahati Mtatifikolo
A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Public Administration and
Management in Partial/Fulfilment of the Requirements for the award
of Master of Research and Public Policy (MRPP) of Mzumbe
University