Eye care utilisation among slum dwellers in the greater Accra region, Ghana

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the pattern of eye care utilisation and the knowledge of eye care services and personnel among slum dwellers in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting: Structured questionnaire was administered to each participant by trained interviewers using the local language were it is evident that participants cannot communicate in English Language. Subjects: Study subjects originally comprised 700 randomly selected adults from seven randomly selected clusters from Accra Metropolitan Assembly designated slum areas in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Results: Responses from the remaining sample of 699 subjects (aged 18 – 80 years) comprising 355 (50.8%) males and 344 (49.2%) females were analysed. Majority had little or no formal education. 38.9% of the respondents have health insurance. 44.1% had no knowledge about eye care while 68.7% did not know any eye care professional. 44.7% of those who have had an eye problem had not presented for an eye examination. Some of the respondents still undertake unorthodox and harmful traditional practices such as using sea water to irrigate the eye and applying breast milk to treat eye infections. Conclusions: From our study, we conclude that there is poor uptake of eye care services and poor knowledge of eye care services and personnel in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.