Level of health risk among poultry workers in Nigeria

Abstract

Poultry, also known as domestic fowl are winged animals domesticated for their nutritional and economic reasons. One of the problems generated from their intensive management method is the long time exposure of poultry workers to dangerous gases which has led to various health implications among the workers. This project considers various units within poultry firm to know the level of risk in poultry firm. One Hundred copies of questionnaires were disseminated among staffs of three different farms in Osun and Oyo states to gather information. Likewise, personal observations / interview of poultry staffs were not left out. The farms visited included Tuns (Osogbo), Zartech (Ibadan) and Vina (Ibadan) farms, Osun and Oyo States respectively. Different units such as: pen house, laboratory, farm workshop (maintenance engineers, technician), Administrative offices were captured with the questionnaires. Result obtained shows that cholera, E. coli, salmonellosis, staphylococcus, Avian flu, Mark, New castle diseases and diarrhea were 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 observed from the results that pen attendants who have spent between 0-2, 2-5, 5-10 and10-15years on the job have 0%,  33.33%,15.5% and 0% of related diseases were at high risk of respiratory disorder, cough and catahrr. Whereas, 0%, 0%, 14.3% and
0%; 0%, 0%, 20% and 50%; and 0%, 0%, 28.6% and 16.7% of related diseases such as Headache, catarrh, sore throat, and other  respiratory diseases were recorded for laboratory scientist, engineering and administrative (other) units with working experience of 0-2, 2-5, 5-10 and 10-15years, respectively. This may be due to longer hrs of time spent by pen attendant in the pen house as compared to other staff members from other units. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that pen attendant who work more in the pen
house are more prone to health implications in poultry firms.

Keywords: Health, Poultry, Pen attendants, Engineering, Technician