Investigation of risk for infectious diseases in 298 overseas workers of China

  Objective  To understand the health related problems of overseas workers of China, and provide evidence for the establishment and improvement of the health service system.

  Methods  The information about the general characteristics and health-related problems of the overseas workers were collected by questionnaire survey, and software SPSS 19.0 was used for statistical analysis.

  Results  From 2019 to 2020, a total of 298 overseas workers aged 25–57 years (median 37 years old) were included, most of them were men (99.7%), and the majority were aged 30–39 years (58.4%). The oversea working places were distributed in 26 countries in Asia (79.5%) and Africa (20.5%). The median daily sleeping time of the workers was 7 hours, and 34.9% (104/298) of the workers thought that sleep quality got worse. Mosquito bite was common problem, which was much more serious in Southeast Asia (93.8%) and Africa (80.3%). The threat posed by endemic vector-borne diseases was serious, and malaria (2 cases), dengue fever (1 case) had occurred. More workers had paid attention to the vaccination against frontier quarantine diseases, and 96.7% (58/60) of the workers working in Africa had been vaccinated against yellow fever. However, some workers still missed the vaccination, which might lead to infectious disease infection. While working abroad, 42.3% (126/298) of the workers had one or more of following symptoms, diarrhea (28.5%), cough, lung discomfort, rash, fever, abdominal pain and bleeding spot. Three workers had been infected with typhoid. The awareness of health protection in the overseas workers had been improved, and access to medical and health services had been increased, which was reflected in the stockpiling of commonly used drugs, the prevention and control of key infectious diseases, and the attention to physical and mental health.

  Conclusion  The health promotion of overseas staff of China has been strengthened and gradually improved, a feasible health care service system for overseas workers, based on gastrointestinal disorders, vector-borne diseases and vaccine preventable diseases and combining with non-specific indicators, such as diet intake and sleep quality, can be established to prevent the cross border transmission of infectious diseases.