The Prevalence of Occupational Injuries and Associated Risk Factors among Workers in Bahir Dar Textile Share Company, Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia

Occupational injuries and their sociodemographic, workplace, and behavioral determinants among large-scale factory workers in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Workplace injuries constitute a serious and growing public health concern worldwide. Despite work-related injuries being highly common, especially among workers in the manufacturing industry, their growing complexities are not adequately addressed in the current literature. Therefore this study aims to investigate the association between sociodemographic, workplace, and behavioral characteristics with work-related injuries among large-scale factory workers in Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to April 2020 with 457 workers selected from large-scale factories in Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Survey data included sociodemographic characteristics, working and safety conditions, and behavioral factors as predictors of occupational injuries. A logistic regression model was fitted to estimate the probability of injury and identify its associated factors. The 12-month prevalence of work-related injuries was 25%. Most injuries occurred at midnight (8.8%). Factors associated with work-related injury were excessive working hours (OR = 3.26; 95%CI: 1.26-8.41), cigarette smoking (OR = 2.72; 95%CI: 1.22-6.08), and manual handling (OR = 2.30; 95%CI: 1.13-4.72). Use of personal protective equipment reduced the odds of injury (OR = 0.42; 95%CI: 0.21-0.83). Although our estimated prevalence of occupational injury was lower than that found in other studies, our findings suggest that actions on modifiable conditions must be taken to reduce the burden of workplace injuries in Ethiopia. The results could inform preparedness and policy efforts aimed at improving worker safety and health.

Whether occupational injuries of the industrial workers can be prevented: an analysis from the slums of West Bengal-India?

A lack of research exists concerning the heterogeneity of the occupational injuries of slum dwellers across industries which has a close link with health expenditure and hence livelihood. It necessitates analysing their occupational injuries and associated out-of-pocket health expenditures. Multi-stage random sampling is used to collect the primary data and the logit model is used for data analyses. Permanent non-fatal injuries in the civil-mechanical industries and temporary non-fatal injuries in textile industries are common. The share of health expenditure of the injured workers seeking medical consultations remains 59% of their average monthly income. Average monthly income, parental occupation, types of industry, job security, risk intensity, and salary basis are significant estimates of occupational injuries. The differences in the nature and extent of the occupational injuries of the workers across industries in the light of the socio-demographic and working environment context provide significant insight into the policy implications.

Neglected burden of injuries in Ethiopia, from 1990 to 2019: a systematic analysis of the global burden of diseases study 2019

Background

The 2030 agenda for sustainable development goals has given injury prevention new attention, including halving road traffic injuries. This study compiled the best available evidence on injury from the global burden of diseases study for Ethiopia from 1990 to 2019.

Methods

Injury data on incidence, prevalence, mortality, disability-adjusted life years lost, years lived with disability, and years of life lost were extracted from the 2019 global burden of diseases study for regions and chartered cities in Ethiopia from 1990 to 2019. Rates were estimated per 100,000 population.

Results

In 2019, the age-standardized rate of incidence was 7,118 (95% UI: 6,621-7,678), prevalence was 21,735 (95% UI: 19,251-26,302), death was 72 (95% UI: 61-83), disability-adjusted life years lost was 3,265 (95% UI: 2,826-3,783), years of live lost was 2,417 (95% UI: 2,043-2,860), and years lived with disability was 848 [95% UI: (620-1,153)]. Since 1990, there has been a reduction in the age-standardized rate of incidence by 76% (95% UI: 74-78), death by 70% (95% UI: 65-75), and prevalence by 13% (95% UI: 3-18), with noticeable inter-regional variations. Transport injuries, conflict and terrorism, interpersonal violence, self-harm, falls, poisoning, and exposure to mechanical forces were the leading causes of injury-related deaths and long-term disabilities. Since 1990, there has been a decline in the prevalence of transport injuries by 32% (95% UI: 31-33), exposure to mechanical forces by 12% (95% UI: 10-14), and interpersonal violence by 7.4% (95% UI: 5-10). However, there was an increment in falls by 8.4% (95% UI: 7-11) and conflict and terrorism by 1.5% (95% UI: 38-27).

Conclusion

Even though the burden of injuries has steadily decreased at national and sub-national levels in Ethiopia over the past 30 years, it still remains to be an area of public health priority. Therefore, injury prevention and control strategies should consider regional disparities in the burden of injuries, promoting transportation safety, developing democratic culture and negotiation skills to solve disputes, using early security-interventions when conflict arises, ensuring workplace safety and improving psychological wellbeing of citizens.

Economic costs and Predictors of occupation-related Injuries in Ethiopian sugar industries from the Employer’s perspective: top-down approach and friction method

Background

For many industrial workers, occupational injuries are a common health and safety concern. However, sufficient information on the economic costs and predictors of occupation-related injuries from the perspective of employers is lacking in developing countries, including Ethiopia. The objective of this study was to close this gap by quantifying the economic costs and predictors of occupation-related injuries in Ethiopian manufacturing industries from the employer’s perspective.

Methods

A cross-sectional study was employed to estimate the employer-side economic cost of occupation-related injuries from December 2021 to March 2022. This study used a top-down approach to compute direct costs, while the friction method was used for indirect cost estimation. Injury data were obtained from the Bureau of Labour and Social Affairs and the industries, while cost data were from workers’ compensation records. The insurance company’s injury compensation record was triangulated with industries’ data. The study collected primary data via an interview-administered, semi-structured questionnaire from 1136 randomly selected injured cases. Statistical analysis was carried out with STATA version 14 software. The study employed a generalized linear model to identify predictors of total cost by considering the non-normal distribution of the total cost. Exponentiate coefficients with a 95% confidence interval were used to express the direction and strength of the association.

Results

The survey participation rate was 100%. From the perspective of the employers, the total cost of occupation–related injury was 22,587,635.32 Ethiopian birr (537,800.84 $).Indirect and direct costs accounted for 65.86 and 34.14% of the overall expenses, respectively. Long-term absence from work (exp (b) = 0.85), having a sleeping disorder (exp (b) = 0.90), co-morbidity (exp (b) = 0.85), and severity (type) of injury (exp (b) = 1.11) were predictors significantly associated with the total cost variability in the fully adjusted model.

Conclusions

Employers’ toll of occupation-related injuries has severe economic implications. The influential factors that elevated the total cost variation were: long-term absence from work, unsafe acts of the workers, having a sleeping disorder, co-morbidity, and severity (type) of injury. Therefore, the identified modifiable factors are the areas of intervention to reduce the cost of occupation-related injuries.

The Prevalence of Hypertension and Associated Risk Factors among Secondary School Teachers in Bahir Dar City Administration, Northwest Ethiopia

Background

Hypertension is one of the noncommunicable cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), and its prevalence is rising in middle- and low-income countries. It is not given enough attention in the developing countries like Ethiopia. Not enough data and studies about hypertension are available in Ethiopia. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of hypertension and its associated risk factors among secondary school teachers in Bahir Dar city administration.

Methods

An institutional-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among secondary school teachers in Bahir Dar. Two hundred twenty-two randomly selected teachers were interviewed, and data related to the demographic, behavioral, health, and dietary characteristics of the individuals were recorded. Blood pressure data were taken. Logistic regression analysis had been used to assess independent risk factors for hypertension. p-values of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant.

Results

The overall prevalence of hypertension in the study was 29.28%. Age 41 to 50 (AOR: 2.506; 95% CI: 1.103–5.694; and p=0.028), having self-reported diabetes mellitus (AOR: 8.595; 95% CI: 2.795–26.424; and p < 0.0001), having a family history of hypertension (AOR: 3.387; 95% CI: 1.579–7.285; and p=0.002), khat chewing (AOR: 5.426; 95% CI: 1.811–16.256; and p=0.003), physical inactivity (AOR: 5.212; 95% CI: 1.974–13.763; and p=0.001), and presence of self-reported repeated stress (AOR: 3.027; 95% CI: 1.404–6.527; and p=0.005) were the risk factors associated with hypertension.

Conclusions

Different intervention measures with a particular emphasis on prevention by introducing lifestyle modifications are highly recommended to mitigate and control hypertension.

Increased Risk of Injury Following a Diagnosis of Vertigo: A Population-based Study

BACKGROUND

This study aimed to evaluate whether peripheral vestibular disorders (PVD) are associated with subsequent injury.

METHODS

Data for this follow-up study were retrieved from the Taiwan's National Health Insurance (NHI) Dataset. A total of 251,355 patients with newly diagnosed PVD during January 2015 to December 2016 was identified as the study cohort, the diagnosis date being their index date. Comparison patients were identified by propensity score-matching (one per case, n = 251,355 controls) from the remaining NHI beneficiaries in 2015 with their index date being the date of their first health service claim in 2015. We tracked each subject's claims history for 1 year from the index date to identify those who suffered an injury. Cox proportional hazards regressions were performed to calculate the injury hazard ratio of cases versus controls.

RESULTS

The incidence of injury during 1-year follow-up was 128.6 (95% CI = 127.6-129.5) per 1,000 person-years, 158.2 (95% CI = 156.8-159.6) and 97.5 (95% CI = 96.3-98.7) among the study and comparison cohorts, respectively. After adjusting for demographic variables, the hazard ratio (HR) for injury during 1-year was 1.663 (95% CI: 1.636-1.690) for cases relative to controls.

CONCLUSIONS

Patients with PVD were at a higher risk for a wide range of injuries, most of all, joint dislocation and sprain.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

3 Laryngoscope, 131:1633-1638, 2021.