Understanding and living with glaucoma and non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes in the Jhaukhel-Duwakot Health Demographic Surveillance Site: a qualitative study from Nepal

Awareness and knowledge of glaucoma and associated factors among adults: a cross sectional study in Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia

Background

Raising public awareness and knowledge about glaucoma is a key for early case identification and prevention of blindness. However, awareness and knowledge about glaucoma is unknown at community level, making provision of interventions difficult. This study was intended to assess the awareness and knowledge of adults about glaucoma and the factors affecting it in Gondar town, Northwest Ethiopia.

Methods

Community based cross - sectional study was conducted on 701 adults 35 and above years in Gondar from April 12–30, 2016. Multistage sampling technique was used to select study participants. Interviewer administered pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect data after verbal informed consent. Data were entered into EpiData version 3.1 and analyzed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models and Odds ratio with 95% interval were used to identify factors. P–value <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

Seven hundred one adults age 35 and above years were participated with a response rate of 99.3%. The male to female ratio was 1:1.6 with median age of 48 years with interqurtile range of 20. The proportion of awareness was 35.1% (95% CI: 31.5%, 38.6%). Good knowledge was demonstrated in 49.6% (95%CI: 43.3%, 55%) of glaucoma aware participants. Education (primary [AOR: 3.21; 1.73, 5.95], secondary [AOR: 4.34; 2.30, 8.22]; college and above [AOR: 9.82; 4.27, 22.60]) and having eye examination [AOR: 2.78; 1.86, 4.15] were positively associated with awareness of glaucoma whereas older age (65 –74 years [AOR: 0.31(0.21, 0.76]) was inversely related. Level of Education (primary[AOR:2.83;1.04,7.71],secondary[AOR:3.45;1.33,9.41],college and above [AOR: 4.86;1.82,12,99] and having eye examination [AOR: 2.61;1.53,4.45] were significantly associated with knowledge.

Conclusion

The study has indicated higher level of awareness and knowledge about glaucoma in urban communities than previous studies. It has also identified educational status, eye examination at least once in life are related with better awareness and knowledge. The present awareness and knowledge should be enhanced through public oriented glaucoma education via mass media and incorporating eye check up as a routine in older people.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12886-017-0542-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Life experiences of patients before having hypertension: a qualitative study

Introduction

Identification of causes of hypertension on the basis of the perspectives and experiences of patients is the key to success in health plans of these patients. The aim of this study was to describe the experiences of life before becoming hypertensive patients.

Methods

This qualitative study was conducted during August 2015 to April 2016. Twenty-seven hypertensive patients referred to hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences were selected based on purposive sampling, and semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with them. The data were analyzed by the content analysis method and using qualitative data analysis software MAXqda 2011.

Results

Three main categories were extracted from data analysis. Patients experienced factors such as negligence and neglect, life stress, lack of healthy lifestyles and abuse awareness, spirituality abandonee in the main category of “personal experience,” factors such as family conflicts, heredity, inappropriate nutritional and life style in the main category of “family life,” and also factors such as job stress, economic problems, urbanization, chemical agents during the war in the main category of “social life.”

Conclusions

Based on the findings, patients before becoming hypertensive under the influence of their culture and beliefs had experienced many risk factors associated with hypertension. Comprehensive planning and appropriate to the cultural, social, and beliefs context about the prevention and correction of these factors is necessary.

Nordic School of Public Health NHV and its legacy in global health

This article describes the legacy of the Nordic School of Public Health NHV (NHV) in global health. We delineate how this field developed at NHV and describe selected research and research training endeavours with examples from Vietnam and Nepal as well as long-term teaching collaborations such as BRIMHEALTH (Baltic RIM Partnership for Public HEALTH) in the Baltic countries and Arkhangelsk International School of Public Health in Russia.