RESUMEN
Background: Corneal diseases are the second major cause of blindness. Corneal transplantation is the most effective treatment with high rate of success but there is a shortage of corneal donors. The study analyzed various factors affecting the willingness to donate cornea. Methods: This community based cross sectional study was conducted among the adults residing in 9 sub-centres under PHC Kinaye, Belagavi in Karnataka, India. The participants (n=400) answered questionnaires which included details such as the demographic profile and, awareness and willingness to donate eyes. Univariate logistic regression analysis was performed for the data. Results: Out of 400 participants, 80.5% were aware of eye donation among which 52% were willing to donate. Univariate analysis showed that adults who were less than 40 years were more aware when compared to those who were more than 40 years (p=0.0001) and more educated adults were willing to donate than illiterate. Adults from joint family were more aware when compared to those from nuclear family (p=0.005). Religious beliefs influenced the willingness of adults for donation as 83.6% denied willingness to donate. Conclusions: The results of our study strongly suggest that there are a lot of misconceptions regarding eye donation in most parts of our country. It is evident from our study that education and involvement of those in health sector, will help to spread knowledge about eye donation and to eliminate misconceptions and ignorance about corneal donation.
RESUMEN
Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) is a fatal illness caused by retrovirus known as the Human Immune Deficiency Virus (HIV). In 2011 it was estimated that 34.2 million adults worldwide were living with HIV/AIDS, among them 16.8 million were women.The present study assessed to know the knowledge and attitude regarding HIV/AIDS in married women of reproductive age group in an urban population of Belgaum city.This crosssectional study was conducted among 400 married women of Ramnagar area of Belgaum city using simple random sampling methods. Each woman was interviewed for her level of knowledge & Attitude about HIV/AIDS. Percentage and Chi square test was used for analysis.It was found that 92.8% of women were aware about HIV/AIDS. Television (80.4%) was the main sources of information 91.5% of women said that HIV/AIDS spread by unprotected sex. 89.4% women knew that HIV/AIDS can be prevented by consistent use of condom. Majority of women had positive attitude towards people living with HIV/AIDS.The study showed that, majority of the women were aware about HIV/AIDS, but some of them did not know the other aspects of the disease like ICTC and PPTCT services.