Health problems and exposure to infectious risks in returning humanitarian aid workers

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Occupational Health
• Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Background:

• Humanitarian aid workers are susceptible to deployment-related health threats.
• Identifying high-risk subgroups is crucial for optimizing health interventions.
• Diverse populations of aid workers require tailored risk assessments.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze health risks and exposure patterns in humanitarian aid workers post-deployment.
• To identify demographic and deployment-specific factors associated with increased health risks.
• To inform targeted prevention strategies and improve pre-deployment consultations.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of anonymized data from aid workers visiting a post-deployment clinic (2018-2021).
• Descriptive analysis of demographic data, self-reported exposures, and health problems from standard questionnaires.
• Inclusion of 1529 medical consultations from 1238 aid workers.

Main Results:

• Common exposures included freshwater contact (14.3%), unprotected sexual contact (9.0%), rabies exposure (3.7%), and blood exposure (2.9%).
• Most frequent health issues were gastrointestinal problems (31.9%), malaria (15.5%), and respiratory infections (6.2%).
• Poor adherence to malaria chemoprophylaxis (29.0%) was noted; 1.2% required repatriation due to health issues.

Conclusions:

• Humanitarian aid workers experience substantial health problems and risk exposures during deployment.
• Younger aid workers, those in rural settings, and those with non-medical organizations face elevated risks.
• Findings support enhanced pre-deployment education, risk reduction behaviors, and improved adherence to medical advice, particularly malaria prophylaxis.