[Prevalence of respiratory problems in workers at two manufacturing centers of ready-made concrete in Morocco].

Setting: Employees at factories for ready-made concrete are exposed to the dust emanating from the products (such as sand, gravel and cement); however, there have been few studies on the subject.

Methods: A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted in a male population: 120 employees working in cement production and 120 non-exposed civil servants working at the Casa-Anfa prefecture. Each employee underwent interview by standardised questionnaire, spirometry test and standard chest radiography.

[The value of occupational health in the national campaign against tuberculosis in Morocco].

Tuberculosis is a major public health problem in Marocco, with an incidence of 100 cases per 100,000 people. Occupational health could make a substantial contribution to the national anti-tuberculosis campaign, as the principal aims of occupational health are to protect and to improve the physical, mental and social well-being of the workforce. Occupational health thus devotes considerable attention to the promotion of health in general, and the fight against tuberculosis in particular.

[Prevalence of respiratory systems and evaluation of sensitization levels in traditional grain market workers in Casablanca].

Our study proposes to evaluate the prevalence of clinical respiratory symptoms, spirometric abnormalities and allergy skin test sensitivities in two groups: on exposed to grain dust in a big traditional grain market in Casablanca and the other unexposed. The inquiry which concerned 277 exposed workers and 230 non exposed consisted of a questionnaire, spirometric examinations and skin prick testings. Exposed and no exposed groups are statically similar as far as physical data (sex, age, weight, heignt) and smoking habits.

[Child labor in the artisan sector of Morocco: determinants and health effects].

Despite the fact that child labour is regulated through the work code, and the convention on child rights adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1989 and ratified by Morocco in 1993, multiple surveys have shown that children are often put to work at a very early age and few employers respect the work conditions laid out in the texts. The aim of this study was to assess the different situations of child labour in the handicraft sector, the reasons and the problems surrounding it, to study its repercussions on health and to propose several preventive measures. From March to July 1997, a retrospective cohort study of working children and children in school was carried out in a small neighbourhood of Casablanca.

[Occupational hazards in the Moroccan craft sector and proposal for occupational health services].

The absence of occupational health services, the numerous occupational hazards and the high number of people working in the handicraft sector have sparked this study. Descriptive, cross-sectional epidemiological studies were carried out throughout 1996 for different artisan activities: iron-work, jewellery making, rug making, tannery, "zellige", pottery, and woodworking. The study included 449 artisans and consisted of an analysis of work conditions, a medico-social questionnaire, a clinical examination and among certain artisans, a biological check-up, a respiratory check-up (thoracic x-ray and lung function testing), and a toxicological check-up.