Ergonomic Risks and Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (Wmsds) Among Healthcare Workers in Africa: A Review

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSDs) as an occupational health occurs amidst healthcare workers in Africa generally, and this can be as a result of constant need to manually handle or attend to patients, poor postures, repetitive tasks, and limited access to adequate equipment. This review shows evidences from some African countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda, South Africa, Tunisia, and Egypt where roughly 40% to over 90% of nurses, physiotherapists, dentists, and allied health professionals are affected. WMSDs including lower back, neck, and knees were identified as the most common affected parts of the body. Other factors responsible are biomechanical exposures, heavy workload, low job control, gender, age, and prior injury history often increase vulnerability to WMSDs. Furthermore, tools such as OWAS, RULA, and REBA were used to evaluate occurrences while quantitative approaches like electromyography and wearable sensor technologies were also employed, with their strengths and limitations compare in its healthcare applications. Intervention strategies for mitigating WMSDs which includes ergonomic education and training, workplace redesign and engineering controls, assistive devices and safe patient-handling technologies, rehabilitation programmes, and administrative and policy-level interventions are very important for control against occurrences. African healthcare system is faced with persistent challenges such as limited funding, and inadequate training being a resource constrained continent, therefore a combined approach integrating education, appropriate equipment, workplace redesign, and enforcement of policies across board is essential in reducing WMSD and improving healthcare delivery.