Assessment of the Degree of Health Risk among Poultry Workers in Nigeria
Research Highlights in Disease and Health Research Vol. 9,
24 June 2023
,
Page 90-104
https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/rhdhr/v9/5700E
Abstract
The high-quality and affordable food protein derived from poultry has promoted the chance for high investment and job opportunities across the globe for poultry farming. One of the problems generated by the intensive management practice is the long time exposure of poultry workers to health-related hazards. This study, therefore, aims to assess the level of hazards among the staff members in poultry production enterprise and determine their susceptibility based on the level of exposure and their job responsibilities within the poultry firm.
Field surveys (i.e. the use of one hundred pieces of questionnaires administered among staff members), interviews, and personal observation were the methods used to gather information from three different farms in Osun and Oyo states. The farms visited included Tuns Farm (Osogbo), Zartech Farm (Ibadan), and Vina Farm (Ibadan), all in Osun and Oyo States respectively. Different units such as pen houses, farm laboratories, farm workshops (maintenance engineers, technicians), and Administrative offices were captured with the questionnaires.
Results obtained showed that cholera, E. coli, salmonellosis, staphylococcus, Avian flu, Mark, New Castle diseases, and diarrhea are the most common diseases affecting poultry workers. It was also gathered that the chemicals used as disinfectant contributes to cough, catarrh, sore throat, and breathing difficulty, especially among the pen attendant who spend most of their working hours in the pen house. It was also recorded from the study that, pen attendants who spent between 0-2 and 2-5 years had 0% and 33.33%, while those that spent between 5-10 and10-15years had 15.5% and 0% of health-related diseases respectively. This means that the risk of having any of those hazards increases as the year of service progresses, while after spending up to about 5 years or beyond, there is less risk to these hazards, this may be because their body system is already used to the system (i.e. working environment). Whereas, 0%, 0%, 14.3%, and 0%; 0%, 0%, 20%, and 50%; and 0%, 0%, 28.6%, and 16.7% of related diseases were recorded for laboratory scientists, engineering/technician and administrative (other) units with working experience of 0-2, 2-5, 5-10 and 10-15years, respectively. The high rate of health hazards among the pen attendants may be due to longer hours of time they spent in the pen house which is more than the hours that are being spent by members of staff from other units.
The study established that the order of pen attendants, engineers/technicians, and laboratory technologists were more prone to hazards such as Chest pain, E. coli, Salmonellosis, Staphylococcus, and Avian flu infections than any workers from other units in the poultry firm.
- Health risk
- hazard
- poultry
- pen attendants
- engineering
- technician