Matthew Ko

Pesticide self-poisoning is one of the leading methods of suicide worldwide, and most cases occur in agricultural communities in low- and middle-income countries where highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) remain freely accessible. The WHO and FAO have identified two measures as central to addressing this: restricting access to the pesticides most commonly used in self-poisoning, and phasing out HHPs from agricultural use. Malawi is among the countries where pesticide-related self-harm remains a significant public health concern, and where these regulatory measures have yet to be widely implemented.

This project examines how the pesticide industry has responded to that evidence gap in its public communications. Corporate social responsibility reports and stewardship programmes from major agrochemical manufacturers and their trade associations present farmer training, protective equipment distribution, and safe-use campaigns as the industry's contribution to pesticide safety. What these materials rarely address is engagement with means restriction or HHP phase-out, the two measures with the strongest evidence base. Using a corporate determinants of health framework and critical discourse analysis, the project analyses this material to identify how pesticide hazard is reframed as a matter of individual behaviour, how responsibility for harm is shifted onto farmers and intermediaries, and where regulatory silence occurs. 

Findings will be presented at the Our Minds symposium and through Edinburgh 300, with the analysis also being developed for academic publication post-scholarship. The project draws on close collaboration with Malawian researchers and students, so the analysis stays grounded in local regulatory and public health context.