Knowledge of rural herdsmen on non-communicable diseases and their needs in and availability of information / Монголын Анагаах Ухаан

ABSTRACT

IntroductionAs prevalence of morbidity and mortality due to the non-communicable diseases is high, educationand communication are crucial in terms of reduction of the risk factors of these diseases amongstthe population. However, the sources and needs for information regarding NCDs among the generalpopulation, especially among the rural herdsmen, are still unknown.Materials and MethodsThe study used a population based cross sectional design selecting 500 herders in total by themultistage random cluster sampling method from 4 provinces and 12 soums of 4 the geographicalregions of Mongolia. Data collection methods included both quantitative and qualitative methodsfollowed by an analysis of the data using the by SPSS 17.0 software.ResultsA total of 228 herding families participated in the study and 78.5% of them were use television, 37.3%--radio and 10.1% -- newsletters. As for sources of health information, 53.4% of participants receiveinformation on NCDs from the television, 32.2% - from health care facilities, and 18.6% -- from radio.More than 65% of the participants state that the information on NCDs is “insufficient”, whereas 92%have never participated in trainings on NCDs, and 84.4% were have had no access to NCD-relatedbrochures and handouts. These results indicate that the NCD related information available to theherders and rural population is insufficient. In terms of demand for information on non-communicablediseases, 82.2% of the respondents answered that information is necessary, 60.4% of the herdersprefer to have information through television, 42.2%-- through soum doctors and bag feldschers,35.8%-- from health care facilities, and 31.4% -- from the radio.ConclusionInformation on NCDs available to rural herders and households is insufficient, thus more appropriatemethods for delivery NCD information should be used meeting their demands and their preferenceof the sources of health information.