Abstract
BackgroundSwaziland, like many other developing countries, lacks appropriate eye health services, particularly for children.AimTo determine the knowledge and practices of parents about child eye health care in the public sector in Swaziland.SettingThe setting for this study was Swaziland.MethodsA descriptive study involving cross-sectional sampling methodology and quantitative analysis was employed with 173 randomly selected parents whose children attended public schools in Swaziland.ResultsOut of 173 participants, 104 (60.1%) parents reported that they have never taken their children for an eye test and 69 (31.7%) felt that their children’s vision was fine. Ninety-seven (53.1%) parents indicated having no knowledge about child eye conditions and no significant association was found between level of education and knowledge of eye conditions affecting children (p = 0.112). Having an immediate family member who wore spectacles increased the likelihood of a child being taken for eye testing (p = 0.001), but decreased the likelihood of being well informed about eye health (p = 0.218). Of those parents who reported taking their children for eye tests, 34 (49.3%) reported that they were given eye drops and 31 (44.9%) stated that their children were prescribed spectacles. Eighty-seven (50.3%) parents accepted the idea of their children wearing spectacles.ConclusionThe findings of the study suggest the need for parents to be informed about basic child eye health care and the importance of their children having regular eye examinations.
Highlights
Visual impairment and blindness in children from the developing world are usually caused by avoidable and treatable conditions.[1,2] These limit their access to education and job opportunities impacting negatively on their productivity and quality of life.[1,2,3] A major contributing factor to childhood blindness is a lack of awareness about promotive and preventative eye care measures among parents or guardians and community members as well as knowledge of where to access appropriate care.[2,4] Approximately 500 000 children become blind each year, with 1.5 million already blind, five times higher in the poor regions compared to affluent regions
An estimated 1.3 million blind children live in Africa (18%),[6,7] with refractive error (RE) being relatively low (1.8%) in most African countries, reportedly too low to justify the prioritisation of RE screening only.[8]
While parents with higher levels of education would be expected to know the importance of early intervention to avoid visual problems that can lead to amblyopia and visual impairment or blindness, the results show that the level of education was not a determinant for parents taking their children for eye testing
Summary
Visual impairment and blindness in children from the developing world are usually caused by avoidable and treatable conditions.[1,2] These limit their access to education and job opportunities impacting negatively on their productivity and quality of life.[1,2,3] A major contributing factor to childhood blindness is a lack of awareness about promotive and preventative eye care measures among parents or guardians and community members as well as knowledge of where to access appropriate care.[2,4] Approximately 500 000 children become blind each year, with 1.5 million already blind, five times higher in the poor regions compared to affluent regions. Like many other developing countries, lacks appropriate eye health services, for children
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
