SWCOEH faculty author Occupational Health Inequities in Central America article published by AJPH
Houston (Aug. 17, 2021) -- Dr. David Gimeno Ruiz de Porras, PhD, and Dr. George L. Delclos, PhD, of the Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (SWCOEH) at UTHealth School of Public Health co-authored an article published Aug. 9 by the American Journal of Public Health.
The article, “Monitoring Self-Perceived Occupational Health Inequities in Central America, 2011-2018”, analyzes changes in occupational health inequity between 2011 and 2018 among a representative sample of over 20,000 workers in Central America.
Data were collected by face-to-face interviews at the workers’ homes. The researchers estimated health inequity gaps by means of absolute and relative inequity indicators, and stratified all analyses by gender.
Between 2011 and 2018, the proportion of workers reporting poor self-perceived health decreased both in women (from 32 percent to 29 percent) and men (from 33 percent to 30 percent). However, the health inequity gaps by gender, age, occupation, and education remained wide.
Wider health inequity gaps were observed between countries than by gender, age, occupation, or education. Health inequity gaps between countries increased from 22 percent to 39 percent in women and from 20 percent to 29 percent in men.
As the first benchmark of occupational health inequities in Central America, the research could be useful when developing and evaluating the impact of public policies on work.