Hanna?Andrea Rother
COMMUNICATING OCCUPATIONAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH HAZARDS TO DEVELOPING COUNTRY POPULATIONS: ARE LABELS AN APPROPRIATE AND EFFECTIVE RISK COMMUNICATION TOOL?
University of Cape Town
isee224 introduction risk communication refers process individuals become informed potential health environmental hazards assumption risk management strategy risk communication tools transfer risk information laity ie receivers end result provoking expert defined appropriate safety behaviours labels signage commonly used risk communication tools transferring health environmental risk information products eg chemicals cosmetics foods household products medications dangerous circumstances eg chemical industries polluted water dangerous working environments however tools often fail protect health environment well evoke safety behaviours results standardizing risk communication tools assumption target populations homogenous neglecting social cultural disparity terms label comprehension interpretation health literacy aim study evaluated effectiveness pesticide labels risk communication tools south african farm workers methods south african pesticide labels designed based risk information pesticide industries developed countries 115 wine table grape farm workers western cape province south africa interviewed focus groups also interviewed mental models approach employed assess farm workers interpretations label components eg pictograms colour codes precautionary statements relation technically intended interpretations experts highlight farm workers understanding label components ethnographic texts presented illustrating varying social cultural meanings applied pesticide label risk information results studys statistical ethnographic evidence leads one argue pesticide labels well comprehended farm workers present risk communication system industry label workers effective risk management strategy protecting south african farm workers health pesticide exposures many study farm workers previously used pesticide label hazard information awareness pesticide labels provide information use measurement specifications precautions equipment use furthermore approximately 50 percent respondents misleading incorrect critically confused interpretations interpretations based experts rationality label information simplistically represented instead reflect influence target populations social cultural political historical economic context conclusion health researcherscommunicators developing countries face challenge designing appropriate risk communication strategies need question present hazard labelling increase comprehension health risk messages labels prior research must conducted context messages applied training essential furthermore policy needs endorse development comprehensible applicable risk communication tools developing country contexts