Predominant diseases and environmental factors in children aged 5 to 15 in Ingeniero White: A qualitative study based on the experience of health workers

Abstract

In this article, we characterize the predominant diseases in children aged 5 to 15 years in Ingeniero White, Bahía Blanca, Argentina, as recognized by health workers from the health services. Based on the ways in which they explain their health problems, we investigate the factors that weaken their health from the perspective of health personnel. Ingeniero White is a town in the south of the province of Buenos Aires that is home to a port industrial center. Currently, there are no published epidemiological records that systematize the pediatric health situation in Ingeniero White. This knowledge gap motivates the need to address the problem through a qualitative approach that recovers the perspectives of local health workers, key actors with local experience.

In the results obtained, we highlight that what differentiates children in Ingeniero White from patients in other areas of the city is not so much the type of health problem as the way it affects them. Among the predominant diseases, they reported a higher frequency of allergic respiratory diseases in the pediatric population of Ingeniero White, attributing this phenomenon to air pollution from local industrial emissions as a unique factor in the identified conditions, among other aspects; although they indicated that they are unaware of local scientific studies that empirically corroborate this causal relationship. This association was based on their clinical experience. We conclude that the lack of studies does not invalidate the observation, although it does place it as a hypothesis to be validated.