221713 Life in the Valley of Death: A Cross-Sectional Study of the Structural Determinants to Haitian Farm worker Exposure to Pesticides in the Dominican Republic

Tuesday, November 9, 2010 : 11:10 AM - 11:30 AM

Fernando Ona, PhD, MPH , Department of Applied Health Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Zobeida Bonilla, PhD, MPH , Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN
Bernadette de Leon , Department of Environmental Health, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN
Cherķe S. Blair, MPH , David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California - Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Chemical pesticides are among the tools used in agriculture to manage challenges to crop growth, persistent crop pests and issues with harvest yields in the Dominican Republic. Agrochemical exposures in the Dominican Republic are often hidden since many of the farmworkers being exposed are undocumented Haitians. Using a mixed-methods design, this cross-sectional, observational descriptive study in a northwestern municipality in the country investigates the structural conditions to agrochemical exposures among Haitian farmworkers . Results from survey data were integrated into a GIS to create risk flow maps of perceived exposure and access to health services among this population. This study seeks to determine the challenges of surveillance and prevention of agrochemical exposures among Haitian farmers. Findings from this study will inform community health education and public health interventions.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Environmental health sciences
Occupational health and safety
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
1. Describe the socio-cultural determinants of agrochemical exposures in a rural community in the Dominican Republic 2. Formulate community health education efforts and public health interventions that address public health needs of Haitian farm workers in the Dominican Republic

Keywords: Environmental Exposures, Migrant Farm Workers

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have conducted this research in collaboration with colleagues and NGOs
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 4114.0: Occupational health in developing countries: A cue for social justice: **Special intersectional track on environmental and occupational justice**