Occupational Hazards among Health Workers in Hospitals of Mukalla City, Yemen
Authors:   WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training, Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen  ³Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, GYM Alsheikh , AS Bin-Ghouth ,   Department of Community Medicine, Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, SS Al-Ammary ,   Department of Community Medicine, Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, AAS Alhaddadi ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, MSA Al-broad ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, AMA Alswail ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, FAAS Bokura ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, EAS Al-Hussaini ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, SKS Alriwi ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, MAM Alnagashi ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, RAS Alaodi ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, BHR Maghram ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, OA Alsharabi ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, SOM Basabaa ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, AJ Al-Jarou ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, HDO Bahah ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, OKM Quhaif ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, SKSH Humran ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, MSA Algazi ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, MAB Bin-Merdhah ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, SAA Al-Ammari ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen, FMA Bin-Dohman ,   Hadhramout University College of Medicine, Yemen
Published: April 2021

Background: Occupational health is a neglected public health issue among healthcare workers in developing countries like Yemen and they may expose them to various forms of hazards, which have had negative consequences on their wellbeing and performance at work. Objective: The study aims at exploring the forms of occupational health hazards prevalence and methods to mitigate these hazards among Health Care Workers (HCW) in governmental hospitals in Mukalla city. Methods: It is a cross-sectional study conducted among health workers in the main hospitals in Mukalla city in Hadhramout province in eastern Yemen. The sample size is calculated statistically as 366 workers from different categories including doctors, nurses and lab technicians. A sample of 391 workers were selected randomly who were distributed to be representative and proportional to the size of each professional category. Results: The prevalence of biological hazards among the healthcare workers accounted for 298 (76%) whereas the non-biological hazards accounted for 306 (78%). The most prevalent biological hazards are needle prick injury (80%) followed by exposure to contact with contaminated material (75%), while the most frequent non-biological hazards are back pain (79%) followed by extra-time work (72%). In logistic regression age, gender and duration of work and professional category have significant association with exposure of health workers to biological hazards while only gender is the only variable associated with non-biological hazards. Conclusion: There is a high prevalence of occupational hazards (biological and non-biological) among health workers in hospitals of Mukalla city. A prevention and infection control and patient safety programs are highly recommended in Mukalla hospitals to save health workers and patients.