Socio-demographic, agricultural, and personal protective factors in relation to health literacy among farmers from all regions of Thailand.

Introduction: Farmers are vulnerable to adverse health effects from pesticide exposure due to their health literacy (HL). Therefore, this study aims to investigate HL among farmers in four main regions of Thailand, investigating socio-demographics, agricultural, and personal protective factors to their HL. Methods: This cross-sectional design study was conducted on 4,035 farmers from January to July 2023. The European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire-47 items were used to measure HL. Results: Thai farmers had a mean HL score of 34.7 ± 8.7, and the farmers in the North region of Thailand had the highest frequency of limited HL (75.8%). Socio-demographic factors that were associated with HL included gender, region of living, marital status, education level, co-morbidity, and number of family members. Agricultural factors associated with HL included planting status, working hours on farm, spraying pesticides, harvesting crops, pesticide use of >1 type, access information from government officers, access information from posters/brochures, information from online multimedia, and access information from neighbors. Personal protective factors that were associated with HL included wearing a hat, goggles, a rubber apron, and a long-sleeved shirt. Discussion: Our study recommends that strategies and interventions to enhance the HL of farmers should be focused on the target populations, which include men, widows, or divorced, those with low levels of education, those who have co-morbidities, and those who applied pesticides of more than 1 type and improper personal protective equipment (PPE) use. The primary emphasis needs to be on the North region of Thailand, making that the target area to improve health equity in Thailand. These efforts would enhance the HL of farmers and sustainably improve pesticide safety behavior. Additionally, there is an urgent need for supportive measures aimed at altering on-farm practices and promoting education on alternative pest management strategies, particularly non-chemical crop protection, to ensure sustainable agriculture.

Acute health symptoms related to perception and practice of pesticides use among farmers from all regions of Thailand.

Introduction: Occupational exposure to pesticides may cause acute health effects for farmers and agricultural workers. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the prevalence of poisoning symptoms related pesticide exposure among farmers from all regions of Thailand, as well as factors linked to poisoning symptoms of neurological and neuromuscular systems, the respiratory system, and eye and skin disorders. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted in 4,035 farmers who lived in four regions of Thailand. The samples were chosen using stratified random sampling, with 746 for the Central region, 2,065 for the North-East, 586 for the North, and 638 for the South. Results: The results found that the highest prevalence of poisoning symptoms was found in association with neurological and neuromuscular systems (75%), followed by the respiratory system (60.4%), the eyes (41.2%), and skin (14.8%). The most prevalent symptoms were muscle pain (49%) for neurological and neuromuscular symptoms, burning nose (37.6%) for respiratory symptoms, itchy eyes (26.3%) for eye symptoms, and rashes (14.4%) for skin symptoms. The remarkable findings were that types of pesticide use, task on the farm, types of pesticide sprayers, and perception are the crucial factors affecting all poisoning symptoms. Discussion: The findings are also beneficial to the Thai government and other relevant organizations for launching measures, campaigns, or interventions to lower modifiable risk factors, resulting in reducing health risks associated with pesticide exposure.