Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, 4000 Debrecen, Hungary.
Doctoral School of Health Sciences, University of Debrecen, 4000 Debrecen, Hungary.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Oct 3;18(19):10431. doi: 10.3390/ijerph181910431.
Pesticides play a very important role for ensuring food security and economic growth but their use can cause harmful effects to human health and to the environment. The study aimed to investigate the level of knowledge, health risk perceptions, and experiences on the practice of pesticide use and management among extension officers in Ethiopia and plant doctors in Hungary. A questionnaire survey among 326 officers was conducted in the two study areas and data were analyzed by ordinal logistic regression. According to the findings, Hungarian officers had much better knowledge of pesticide products (92%), and less frequently experienced pesticide poisoning among applicators (7%) than the Ethiopians (66% and 41%, respectively). Hungarian officers perceived less health risk of pesticide use (AOR = 0.46, 95%, Cl: 0.27-0.80), were ten times more likely to deem the pesticide management system effective (AOR = 10.23, 95%, Cl: 5.68-18.46) and were nine times more likely to report that applicators used personal protective equipment (AOR = 8.95, 95%, Cl: 4.94-16.28). A significant proportion of officers from both countries reported inappropriate methods of pesticide residue disposal. These observations point out that the situation of pesticide use and knowledge and management of pesticide products is definitely better in Hungary; nevertheless, the issue continues to need more attention in both settings.
农药在确保食品安全和经济增长方面发挥着非常重要的作用，但它们的使用也会对人类健康和环境造成有害影响。本研究旨在调查埃塞俄比亚推广官员和匈牙利植物医生对农药使用和管理的知识水平、健康风险认知和实践经验。在两个研究区域对 326 名官员进行了问卷调查，通过有序逻辑回归对数据进行了分析。结果表明，匈牙利官员对农药产品的了解程度要好得多（92%），施药者农药中毒的频率（7%）比埃塞俄比亚官员（分别为 66%和 41%）低。匈牙利官员认为农药使用的健康风险较小（AOR = 0.46，95%置信区间：0.27-0.80），认为农药管理制度更有效的可能性高十倍（AOR = 10.23，95%置信区间：5.68-18.46），认为施药者使用个人防护设备的可能性高九倍（AOR = 8.95，95%置信区间：4.94-16.28）。来自两个国家的相当一部分官员报告说，他们使用了不适当的农药残留处理方法。这些观察结果表明，匈牙利在农药使用、产品知识和管理方面的情况肯定更好；然而，这两个国家都需要继续关注这一问题。
