Pesticides are intensively used in agriculture worldwide. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the tropics have the highest annual average application rates of pesticides. Although it is well established that pesticide exposure accounts for considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide, only few studies from LMICs have determined the associated burden of disease, examined exposure pathways and investigated risk factors. In addition, the lack of a thorough understanding of government policies and institutional determinants hampers the implementation of integrated pest management.
This interdisciplinary research project, combining environmental monitoring and epidemiological studies, with institutional and policy analyses, aims to generate a deep understanding of the environmental, health and regulatory dimensions of pesticide use in two agricultural settings in Costa Rica and Uganda.

The underlying assumption of the project is that extensive application of pesticides, poor training, inadequate equipment and insufficient regulation result in increased exposure to pesticides, and consequently in elevated incidence of pesticide-related adverse health outcomes in farm workers. A particular focus of this project is on exposure routes to pesticides and associated risk factors. It is anticipated that in tropical areas differences in meteorological conditions, pesticide applications, dependency of ecosystem products and services, and institutional factors result in exposure pathways and risk factors that differ from those of developed countries in temperate climate zones.

Through the combination of environmental studies, epidemiology, public health and institutional analysis, this project will gain insights into different pesticide exposure routes and facilitate the translation of the research findings into setting-specific interventions and policy recommendations.