Hygiene practices and disease risk perception among Abattoir workers in Dar es Salaam

Abstract

Background: Globally, a Hygienic practice among abattoir workers is a big problem, only 40% of abattoir workers show good hygiene practices. This causes an increased risk of infectious diseases, food and borne diseases, results to public health threat. Little is known about the factors influencing hygiene practices among abattoir workers in Tanzania. This study aims to assess factors influencing hygiene practices and disease risk perception among abattoir workers in Dares salaam. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted at four municipality abattoirs in Dar es Salaam region between July and September 2018. A stratified random sampling method was used to obtain participants. Structured questionnaires and checklist were used to collect information on various parameters. Data analysis was done using SPSS ver. 22 Results: Total of 423 participants were enrolled. Slaughters were more dominated and highly exposed to the risk of disease infectious compare to other occupations. Knowledge regarding hygiene practices were low although majority have at least primary level of education, more than half (56.5%) of respondents were un trained regarding hygiene practices, the study observed absent of hygiene facilities like sterilizer, good floor, good fence and the restriction regulation in the abattoir, thus hinder facilitation of hygiene practices and favor bacterial contamination. Study also revealed 53.3% had low disease risk perception on regarding hygiene practices. The study observed more significant association between disease risk perception and hygiene practices, compare to other factors, through Chi-square at P<0.05,95%CI and Logistic regressions OR was 22.512. Conclusion and Recommendation: This study indicated high needs of sensitization on behavior intervention due to low disease risk perception however enforcement of law regards hygiene practices should be needed, knowledge promotion on hygiene practices through routine training are needed conducted. Keywords: Hygiene practices, Abattoir workers, knowledge, disease risk perception