Pesticide Health and Safety Challenges Facing Informal Sector Workers: A Case of Small-scale Agricultural Workers in Tanzania.

The Tanzania informal sector is growing fast, with precarious working conditions and particular hazards for women and children in agriculture. Hazardous agricultural chemicals including pesticides are mostly imported and have been used for many years. Despite the role played by pesticides in food security and vector control, these chemicals are responsible for acute and chronic illnesses among communities. The availability of obsolete persistent organic pesticides on the open market indicates existence of an inadequate regulatory system. People who get injured or ill in the agriculture sector in Tanzania receive health services in primary health care facilities where professionals have little or no knowledge of pesticides. We are presenting the pesticide health and safety challenges faced by small-scale farmers who fall in the informal sector. Achievements that have been made by the government and other players to reduce and prevent pesticide exposures and poisoning are also outlined.