Communicable Diseases as Occupational Hazards for Agricultural Workers: Using Experience Sampling Methods for Promoting Public Health

Vector-borne communicable diseases cause more than 700,000 deaths annually ( World Health Organization, 2019 ). Despite various efforts, there has been no change in mortality rates due to communicable diseases worldwide ( World Health Organization, 2019 ). Most communicable diseases have no cure and can attain epidemic status quickly. Therefore, prevention is critical in reducing disease transmission. Communicable disease transmission as an occupational health hazard is often ignored in work psychology research and public health policy. Using experience sampling methods, Saxena (2015) found that work and nonwork behaviors associated with rice farming in South Asia increase exposure to Japanese encephalitis. Owing to the extreme urgency in reducing the spread of communicable disease, this policy brief uses Saxena’s (2015) findings to provide intervention recommendations for communicable disease control in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals 3, 8, and 17. Overall, the brief creates a call to action for health organizations to consider work-related occupational hazards in policies for disease control, and for labor and work and organizational bodies to expand research and practice to incorporate public health phenomenon in psychological research.