Kumie Abera, Amera Tadesse, Berhane Kiros, Samet Jonathan, Hundal Nuvjote, G/Michael Fitsum, Gilliland Frank
School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia.
Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Nexus, Ethiopia.
Ethiop J Health Dev. 2016;30(1 Spec Iss):17-27.
The current rapid economic development has brought changes in workplaces in developing countries, including Ethiopia. The organization of occupational health and safety services is not yet resilient enough to handle the growing demands for workers' health in the context of industrialization. There is limited information on the gaps and needs of occupational health services in workplaces in Ethiopia.
The present review article describes the existing profile of occupational safety and health services in Ethiopia and identifies the current gaps and needs in the services.
Secondary data sources were reviewed using a structured checklist to explore the status of occupational safety, health services and related morbidity. Local literature was consulted in order to describe the type and prevalence of work related hazards, patterns of industries and of workforce. Published articles were searched in Google, Google scholar, PUBMED, and HINARI databases. Relevant heads of stakeholder organizations and experts were interviewed to verify the gaps that were synthesized using desk review.
Ethiopia is an agrarian country that is industrializing rapidly with a focus on construction, manufacturing, mining, and road infrastructure. An estimated work force of about two million is currently engaged in the public and private sectors. Males constitute the majority of this workforce. Most of the workforce has basic primary education. Commonly observed hazards in the workplace include occupational noise and dust of various types in manufacturing sectors and chemical exposures in the flower industry. Injury in both the agriculture and the manufacturing sectors is another workplace hazard commonly observed in the country. A lack of information made assessing workplace exposures in detail difficult. The prevalence of noise exposure was found to be high with the potential to seriously impact hearing capacity. Exposure to dust in textile and cement factories greatly exceeded international permissible limits. There is a high level of workplace injuries that often leads to an extended loss of productive working days. Occupational safety and health services were found to be inadequately organized. There is limited practice in exposure assessment and monitoring. This happens to be true despite the existing favorable environment in areas of policies and regulations.
There is a severe scarcity of peer-reviewed literature related to workplace exposures and their impact on workplace health and safety. Limited adequately skilled manpower is available. The internal infrastructural capacity is weak and cannot help to identify and assess hazards in the workplace. Monitoring system and laboratory investigation is limited despite the presence of favorable policy and regulatory frameworks. Addressing these gaps is of immediate concern.
当前快速的经济发展给包括埃塞俄比亚在内的发展中国家的工作场所带来了变化。在工业化背景下，职业健康与安全服务的组织在应对对工人健康日益增长的需求方面仍不够灵活。关于埃塞俄比亚工作场所职业健康服务的差距和需求的信息有限。
本综述文章描述了埃塞俄比亚职业安全与健康服务的现有概况，并确定了服务中当前存在的差距和需求。
使用结构化清单对二手数据来源进行审查，以探讨职业安全、健康服务及相关发病率的状况。查阅当地文献以描述与工作相关的危害类型和患病率、行业模式及劳动力情况。在谷歌、谷歌学术、PubMed和HINARI数据库中搜索已发表的文章。对利益相关者组织的相关负责人和专家进行访谈，以核实通过案头审查综合得出的差距。
埃塞俄比亚是一个农业国家，正在迅速工业化，重点是建筑、制造、采矿和道路基础设施。目前估计约有200万劳动力受雇于公共和私营部门。男性占该劳动力的大多数。大多数劳动力接受过基础初等教育。工作场所常见的危害包括制造业中的各种职业噪声和粉尘以及花卉行业中的化学物质暴露。农业和制造业中的伤害是该国另一种常见的工作场所危害。信息不足使得详细评估工作场所暴露情况变得困难。发现噪声暴露患病率很高，有可能严重影响听力。纺织厂和水泥厂的粉尘暴露大大超过国际允许限值。工作场所受伤率很高，经常导致生产工作日的长时间损失。职业安全与健康服务的组织不完善。暴露评估和监测的实践有限。尽管在政策和法规方面存在有利环境，但情况确实如此。
与工作场所暴露及其对工作场所健康与安全的影响相关的同行评审文献严重匮乏。具备足够技能的人力有限。内部基础设施能力薄弱，无法帮助识别和评估工作场所的危害。尽管有有利的政策和监管框架，但监测系统和实验室调查有限。立即解决这些差距至关重要。
