Awareness, knowledge, beliefs and the sociocultural and religious practices, are believed to influence the treatment-seeking behavior of people as well as their uptake of services. This study was carried out to assess the awareness and knowledge about glaucoma, and the attitude to glaucoma screening in Nchokko village in Igbeagu community, Izzi Local Government Area, Ebonyi State, Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional descriptive study. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS 22. Results show that a total of 402 respondents-228 (56.7%) women and 174 (43.3%) men-were interviewed. The mean age of respondents was 31.7 ± 11.9 years; 82.8% of the respondents had secondary education or less; 53% were married; and 38.1% were farmers. Only 21.1% of the respondents were aware of glaucoma. Gender, education, and positive family history were significantly associated with awareness. Only 6.3% of the respondents had good knowledge about the disease. A large proportion of respondents (62.1%) exhibited a positive attitude towards glaucoma screening; however, only 5% had ever undergone glaucoma screening. We conclude that glaucoma awareness and knowledge were poor in this rural community, but a high proportion of respondents had a positive attitude towards glaucoma screening. We therefore recommend a focused community health education campaign that will raise awareness and impart adequate knowledge about glaucoma. Eye care providers should make use of every opportunity to convey information on glaucoma to patients.
Majority of the patients were satisfied with the services received. The major dissatisfaction points were cost of services and inadequate toilet facilities.
BACKGROUND: -Eye injuries are becoming relatively important, not only as a cause of presentation but also a cause for admission at health centres in Nigeria. In view of this trend being observed and the fact that most eye injuries requiring hospital admission may give rise to grave ocular consequences. This study set out to highlight the pattern of eye injuries admitted into the eye ward of a Nigerian Teaching Hospital over one year. This is with a view to providing suitable protocols in the management and prevention of such injuries and their attendant ocular complications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: -A retrospective study of all cases of eye injury admitted into the eye ward of the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Nigeria in the year 2003 was conducted. All the hospital records of such cases were studied. RESULTS: -Eye trauma constituted 15.95% of 257 admissions. Males comprised 78%, and children comprised 22%. The commonest agents of injury were gunshot pellets, glass, metal and wood pieces. Activities implicated commonly were assault/combat, agricultural/artisan work-related accidents and road traffic accidents. A variety of sight threatening complications were noted in these subjects. Visual acuity on presentation ranged between 6 / 12 and no light perception (NPL). After treatment, approximately 80% of the injured eyes were blind. CONCLUSION: -Eye injuries requiring hospitalisation in Nigeria are not only common, but also severe. Safety measures and health education campaigns should help reduce this public health problem.
The results from this study show a statistically significant decrease in avoidable blindness in children ≤15 years old. Corneal blindness appears to be decreasing but cortical visual impairment seems to be emerging in the younger age group. Appropriate strategies for the prevention of avoidable childhood blindness in Nigeria need to be developed and implemented.
Objectives: To identify the perceived barriers to the provision of clinical low-vision service among ophthalmologists in Nigeria, with a view to proffering measures for their removal. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of ophthalmologists attending the Annual Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria Congress in September 2005 was conducted. Using self-administered questionnaires, information relevant to low-vision practice and the perceived barriers to the provision of low-vision services was garnered. Results: Eighty-three (70.9%) ophthalmologists out of 117 eligible participants at the congress responded to all of the questions and returned the study questionnaires. Non-availability of low-vision devices within the country (88%), lack of training in low-vision care (73.5%), lack of public awareness of low-vision care and its practitioners (60.2%), and the ophthalmologists' preoccupation with general ophthalmic practice (56.6%) were cited as the major barriers. With regard to the fellows and the residents in training, there was a statistically significant difference in their perception of two of the investigated barriers, namely, that low-vision care is not lucrative (T value: 4.46; 95% CI: 0.16±0.07) and low-vision care is time-consuming (T value: 2.05; 95% CI: 0.145±0.14). Conclusion: Training in low-vision care should be provided within the country for interested relevant personnel at all levels. Moreover, low-vision devices should be made accessible and available to the practitioners. There is a need in Nigeria for widespread health education/awareness campaigns in low-vision care, targeted primarily at ophthalmologists, allied eye-care providers, and the general public. There is a need to include low-vision practice in the curriculum of the ophthalmology residency program in Nigeria. Further qualitative research may need to be conducted to explain the differences in responses between subsets of the study population.
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