A qualitative study to explore port health officers’ opinions of the challenges for port health in the next five years

Commendation for Significant Achievement

Abstract

The term port health refers to a function of environmental health which comprises of the protection of both public health and animal health and is carried out by the Local Authorities, Port Health Authorities at airports and at seaports. Like the environmental health profession, port health is facing some significant challenges. Despite the importance of the port health function, there are no previous studies which have investigated the challenges for port health and so the aim of this study is to explore opinions of the challenges for port health in the next five years among port health officers in order to enhance our understanding of the importance of the port health function and challenges which could affect the way how this function is delivered. A qualitative research approach was selected. One-to-one semi-structured interviews were adopted as the most suitable data collection method.  Using both convenience sampling and snowball sampling, four participants were recruited. The data was thematically  analysed manually and five broad themes emerged: the importance of the port health function, challenges for port health, effectiveness of legislation, consequences/effects of challenges and potential solutions. These were discussed in relation to the literature and showed that the challenges for port health are an important issue which needs to be recognized and addressed effectively. If the challenges are not addressed effectively, it could affect how port health is delivered and increase the risk of an outbreak of a new animal or plant pest or pathogen which could affect public, animal and environmental health leading to devastating consequences for industry and economy of the country.