ABSTRACT
Since 2013, Pernambuco has been developing the Health Surveillance Plan for Populations Exposed to Pesticides, whose strategies include the registration of rural workers who apply pesticides, carried out by the Family Health Care Teams. In order to describe the characteristics of the use of pesticides, the profile of workers subjected to this practice and their health conditions were analysed from January 2015 to August 2019. A cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out, in which the selected variables were organized into four groups: 1) Sociodemographic characteristics; 2) Health conditions; 3) Characteristics of pesticide use; and 4) Most used active ingredients and their categories of analysis. The results show that, among the pesticide applicators, there are underage, elderly, illiterate people, without training and Personal Protective Equipment; the use of prohibited pesticides classified as extremely toxic; and the commercialization of pesticides without adequate control. In addition to pointing out paths through the analysis of this scenario, this research indicates the urgency of intersectoral articulation for the effectiveness of the health promotion and protection to this population.
KEYWORDS
Agrochemicals; Health Profile; Rural health; Occupational health; Surveillance of the workers health