Exploring the public health impact of a miner autopsy service in Johannesburg, South Africa

Background. This study was conducted to determine gold miners' knowledge of an autopsy service coordinated by the National Institute for Occupational Health (NIOH) in Johannesburg, South Africa, mine-related respiratory diseases, and dust protection measures. Also examined were the opinions of medical professionals in Johannesburg on the role of autopsies in public health.;Methods. Questionnaires were administered to 100 gold miners working at eleven gold mines and a survey was distributed to 45 medical professionals in Johannesburg. The eleven gold mines in the miner questionnaire were grouped according to their mine management companies and a logistic regression model was created to determine which mine companies were more likely to train their miners in mine-related respiratory diseases.;Results. Chi-square and logistic regression analysis revealed statistically significant differences among mine management companies with regards to the knowledge of the autopsy service (P = 0.035). Almost three-fourths of the miners reported being trained in respiratory disease risk (73%), but 42% of the miners reported that they do not wear their mask throughout the duration of their shift. In addition, 89.1% of the medical professionals agreed that autopsies have a public health role, but 48% reported no knowledge of the autopsy service.;Conclusion. More work should be done to increase knowledge of the autopsy service, respiratory disease risk and the use of PPE among gold miners in South Africa. Medical professionals in South Africa should be made more aware of the autopsy service.