In Croatia, malaria was eradicated in 1964 and has since been imported, ten cases a year in average, mostly by Croatian migrant workers, seafarers in particular. About 80 % of registered cases were infected in Africa and the main reason for infection was negligence in the use of chemoprophylaxis. The aim of the study was to establish the incidence of malaria among Croatian seafarers from 2004 to 2014, how many of them took chemoprophylaxis properly, and whether malaria was acknowledged as occupational disease. To get our answers we analysed epidemiological surveys of the Croatian Institute of Public Health completed by patients and reviewed epidemiological bulletins and the national Register of Occupational Diseases. Over the investigated period, a total of 102 people fell ill with malaria, of whom 25 were seafarers. Seventeen did not take chemoprophylaxis at all and eight took them without following instructions. In addition, none of them had malaria recognised as occupational disease under Croatian law, nor is there any information that they exercised their rights in any other way. All this clearly points out that seafarers and their employers need to be informed much better about the benefits of preventive measures and their labour rights.
U Hrvatskoj je malarija iskorijenjena 1964. godine, a u sljedećim godinama importirano je oko deset slučajeva godišnje, najčešće se radilo o hrvatskim radnicima migrantima, posebice pomorcima. Oko 80 % registriranih slučajeva zarazilo se u Africi zbog nepravilne primjene kemoprofilakse. Cilj ovoga istraživanja bio je utvrditi incidenciju malarije hrvatskih pomoraca od 2004. do 2014. godine, istražiti jesu li pravilno uzimali kemoprofilaksu te je li im malarija priznata kao profesionalna bolest. Da bismo odgovorili na ta pitanja, analizirali smo epidemiološku anketu Hrvatskoga zavoda za javno zdravstvo, koju su ispunili pacijenti, te smo pregledali epidemiološka izvješća i nacionalni Registar profesionalnih bolesti. U promatranom razdoblju ukupno su 102 osobe oboljele od malarije, od kojih je 25 pomoraca. Sedamnaest pomoraca nije uzimalo kemoprofilaksu uopće, a osam ih je uzimalo, ali ne prema uputama. Također, nikomu od njih malarija nije priznata kao profesionalna bolest prema hrvatskom zakonodavstvu niti ima informacija jesu li svoja prava ostvarili na bilo koji drugi način. Sve to jasno upućuje na zaključak da pomorci i njihovi poslodavci trebaju biti bolje informirani o dobrobitima preventivnih mjera i o svojim radnim pravima.
Keywords: education; edukacija; epidemiologija; epidemiology; profilaksa; prophylaxis.
© 2021 Heinz-Elmar Tenorth, published by Sciendo.