Occupational health risks among barangay [village] health workers in Iloilo City, Philippines

This study aimed to determine the extent of occupational health risks in the workplace of barangay [village] health workers (BHWs). It sought to describe the personal characteristics of BHWs and to determine their level of knowledge, practices and attitude about occupational health risks and the mitigating measures they employed against health hazards. Lastly, it analyzed the factors associated with the occupational health risks. One hundred sixty-two (162) BHW respondents were randomly selected from 180 barangays in the six districts of Iloilo City [Philippines]. The study employed descriptive statistics in analyzing the characteristics of BHWs by degree of occupational health risk. Spearman rank order correlation was used to determine the relationship between the characteristics of BHWs and the degree of occupational health risk. Findings of the study revealed that regardless of the degree of occupational health risk, the BHWs exhibited simil arities in their socio-demographic characteristics such as age, sex, civil status, work experience and source of income. The variables which significantly influenced the degree of occupational health risks were socio-demographic factors such as education, trainings attended, service rendered during weekends, knowledge on prevalent diseases, health practices such as use of clean glass and pitcher for drinking, drinking directly from the pitcher, use of soap to wash glass and pitcher, washing pan before using, covering bowl filled with leftover food, and seldom eating and drinking low-calorie food as snacks, community factors such as community assistance and support regarding health program implementation, and institutional factors such as perceived awareness on littering policies of city health office and other local government offices, and strategies used in reducing health hazards such as establishing linkages, informing the barangay council, conducting information dissemin ation, organizing training and informing the local health board, degree of incidence of noise, pollution and transportation, and prevalence of PTB [pulmonary tubercolosis].