Program Scoring and Rationale - Agriculture Forestry and Fishing Research at NIOSH - page 157

coverage, that contain a rich body of information on hired farmworker morbidity
and mortality that would be valuable in informing discussions of changes in rates
of occupational injury or illness (Villarejo, 1998).
KEY PROGRAM LIMITATIONS
Although on the whole the AFF Program demonstrated success in addressing
some relevant issues and showed that it had impacted some populations, the com-
mittee identified limitations that affected the program's progress and effectiveness.
The committee observed several issues that affected both the AFF Program's ability
to conduct research on issues relevant to AFF workers and its ability to conduct
research that would have an impact on worker safety and health.
Leadership and Strategic Planning
The overarching concern about the AFF Program is the lack of a single cohesive
vision to drive the research agenda. The lack of consistent leadership, long-term
strategic planning, and periodic review of that course has led to a piecemeal ap-
proach to the research program, and the program appears disjointed more often
than not. However, the patchwork approach has produced some successful efforts
because of the efforts of talented and dedicated researchers. The committee under-
stands that the AFF Program is currently undergoing changes in leadership and is
seeking guidance from its National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) AFF
Sector Council. Current reports to the committee on these efforts show great prom-
ise, and the committee notes that effective leadership and stakeholder involvement
will be essential in focusing the strategic plans of the AFF Program.
Surveillance
The AFF Program appears to have had considerable difficulty in applying the
principles of and engaging in surveillance. Constraints to successfully implement-
ing comprehensive surveillance may be due to external factors and funding. Basic
demographic and health effects surveillance of each human population at risk of
worksite exposure is essential because without it no effective targeting of other
programmatic elements can occur, nor can one know when an intervention has
been effective and move on to address other priorities. Surveillance needs to be
broad-based in its population targets inasmuch as the sector is diverse in settings
and employment practices and places that put populations at risk, such as children,
spouses, and the elderly. Given the diversity of the target populations involved in
the AFF sector, the focus on selected hazard surveillance (e.g., pesticides, rollover