Abstract
Background: Corneal damage, after cataract, is the second commonest cause of blindness worldwide. The only remedy for corneal damage is corneal grafting, which is only possible by eye donation. The practice of eye donation in Pakistan is very low as compared to developed countries. However, well aware and well-informed public is expected to increase the practice of eye donation. Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practices of general public of Faisalabad regarding eye donation and their willingness to pledge eyes after death. Study Design: Observational Descriptive Study. Settings: Out-patient departments (OPDs) and in-patient departments (IPDs) of three public sector hospitals of Faisalabad namely Allied Hospital, DHQ Hospital and General Hospital Samanabad Faisalabad. Duration: From March to May 2018. Methodology: An observational descriptive study was conducted using a pre-tested questionnaire among the attendants. 500 individuals were selected using convenient sampling technique. Collected data was then analyzed by SPSS version 24. Results: Out of 500 participants, 337 (67.4%) had heard about eye donation before (aware). These ‘aware’ participants were then subjected to questions pertaining to their knowledge, attitude and practices regarding eye donation. In context of knowledge, only 61/337 (46 males, 15 females) knew that just cornea is transplanted in eye donation. In context of attitude and practices, only 76/337 (56 males, 20 females) were willing to donate their eyes after death. Further, media (both print and electronic) was the source of awareness for 52.82% of the aware participants. On applying chi square test of independence, education was found to have strong association with awareness level (p-value= 0.000). Conclusion: Our study reveals inadequate awareness and low willingness among general public regarding eye donation. Low literacy rate, few eye banks and inadequate awareness campaigns are the major hurdles in this regard. Further, awareness and practices regarding corneal donation according to our research can be increased by utilizing the services of print and electronic media.
Published Version
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