Maria Imaculada Medina Lima

Strategies for Preventing Adolescent Mercury Exposure in Brazilian Gold Mining Areas

Because gold is found in a powdered form, the use of mercury is necessary to form a mercury/ gold amalgam to make the extraction easier, normally at a 1/1 proportion. Thus for each kilogram of gold, an average of one kilogram of mercury is used. This proportion may vary from 0.8-1.3 (Pfeiffer, 1988; Couto, Camara and Sabrosa, 1988; Ferreira and Appel, 1990). In 1989 alone, mercury imports reached 339.9 tons (Hasse, 1993).

Uma metodologia para avaliar e ampliar o conhecimento de adolescentes do ensino fundamental sobre acidentes de trabalho

Knowledge concerning work-related hazards and accidents among adolescents enrolled in an elementary public school was evaluated through an analysis of their occupational profile and discussions concerning concepts of risk situations at work and individual and collective measures for accident prevention and control. The results included a significant change in their understanding of work-related accidents as identified by statistical tests comparing the proportion of correct answers in a questionnaire applied prior to and at two moments after the intervention.O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar o entendimento dos adolescentes de uma rede publica de ensino fundamental sobre os riscos a saude provocados pelo trabalho. Procurou-se tracar o perfil ocupacional dos adolescentes, discutir conceitos de acidentes de trabalho e situacoes de riscos, bem como, medidas individuais e coletivas de prevencao e controle de acidentes. O resultado do estudo permitiu avaliar uma significativa mudanca no entendimento dos conceitos de acidentes de trabalho atraves de testes estatisticos que compararam o indice de respostas corretas em tres periodos cronologicos.

Metodologia para prevenir exposição ao mercúrio em adolescentes de garimpos de ouro em Mariana, Minas Gerais, Brasil

The main objective of this study was to promote the evaluation of an educational method to identify health risks among adolescents exposed to mercury by their work in gold mining production.The project was carried out with adolescents from a public school from the District of Monsenhor Horta, Municipality of Mariana, state of Minas Gerais. Statistical evaluation of the results revealed a significant increase in the amount of correct answers between the first and fifth stage concerning the definition of work accidents and its importance in relation to work-related diseases, accidents on route to and from the work place and violence at work site itself.