Awareness and knowledge of Glaucoma and other diseases associated with blindness in a Ghanian community

Abstract

Purpose: To determine awareness and knowledge of glaucoma and diseases associated with blindness in a Ghanaian community. Methods: Data was collected by questionnaire and in- depth interviews. Results: Familiar causes of blindness were cataract (77.2%), eye injuries (71.9%), kooko local name for haemorrhoids (55.7%), and old age (54.7%). About 3.6% (64/1785) were aware of glaucoma but only 0.8% (15/1785) understood it. People in higher occupational levels were 9 times more likely to understand glaucoma than those in the lower levels (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.04-0.3, Pvalue 0.0001). Only 1% (23/1785) knew that it could be hereditary. Conclusion: Awareness and knowledge of glaucoma was extremely low and related to occupational level. Cataract, kooko, eye injuries and ageing were the more familiar causes of blindness. Key words:glaucome, Ghana, \'kook\', haemorrhoids Nigerian Journal of Ophthalmology Vol 12(2) 2004: 50-54