ABSTRACT
Objective To observe the effect of health education and installation of improved stove in control of coal-burning-borne endemic fluorosis in Pingba County of Guizhou Province.Methods Two towns(Shizi and Qibo) of Pingba County that had implemented the health education and installed the improved stoves for control of coal-burning-borne endemic fluorosis were selected as the investigation sites.Two villages in each selected town and 30 householders as well as all students of grade 4-6 were investigated.Questionnaires were made by survey of the fluorosis control knowledge,household investigations were used to know the use of household stoves,corn and peppers drying method,and the dental fluorosis of children aged 8-12 were examined by Dean methods before the intervention(2006) and after implementation(2009) of health education and improvement of stoves.Results The awareness of fluorosis control among students and households after the intervention was 97.36％ (405/416) and 86.46％(415/480),respectively,and the difference was statistically significant(x2 =658.86,163.10,all P ＜ 0.01) compared with that before the intervention [32.19％(1083/3364),43.33％(130/300)].Correct using rate of the household stoves was 95.42％ (229/240) after the intervention and 45.85％ (3976/8672) before the intervention,the difference was statistically significant(x2 =230.25,P ＜ 0.01).The correct rates of drying corn and chili were 91.67％ (110/120) and 97.50％ (117/120) before the intervention,and 20.00％ (12/60),26.67％ (16/60) after the intervention,the difference was statistically significant(x2 =94.07,104.02,all P ＜ 0.01).The incidences of dental fluorosis of children aged 8-12 were 31.21％(1305/4182) after the intervention and 87.71％(2856/3256) before the intervention,the difference was statistically significant(x2 =2371.91,P ＜ 0.01).Conclusions The measures of health education and intervention of stove improvement in Pingba County of Guizhou Province for prevention and control of coal-burning-borne endemic fluorosis is effective.