Knowledge of and Willingness towards Cornea Donation among Senior Secondary School Teachers in a Rural Nigerian Community

Aims: To determine the knowledge of and willingness toward cornea donation and the effect of eye health education on cornea donation among senior secondary school teachers in a Nigerian rural community.

Study design: Cross-sectional interventional study design.

Place and Duration of Study: Esan Southeast Local Government Area of Edo State, Nigeria, between October 2015 and January 2016.

Methodology: The study was a cross-sectional interventional study amongst senior secondary school teachers. All permanently employed Senior Secondary School teachers teaching at least one senior secondary school subject in Esan Southeast Local Government Area of Edo State were recruited for the study. They answered questions from a semi-structured questionnaire, and their responses were collated and scored. After that, they listened to a 45minutes to 1hour structured educational talk on eye health and the importance of cornea donation. They also had several reminders in the form of twice-weekly text messages on corneal donation. Sixty (60) days later, they answered the same questions, and we compared their responses.

Statistical analysis was done using SPSS v20, and statistical significance was tested using chi-square. A p<0.05 was considered significant.

Results: One hundred and thirty-four (134) teachers in 24 schools out of 28 participated in the study. There were more male than female respondents at a ratio of 2.7:1, and a large percentage of the teachers were less than 30 years old. 86.6% and 93% of teachers had poor or inaccurate knowledge of cornea donation and were unwilling to donate their corneas before our intervention. Following eye health education, the number of teachers willing to donate their corneas improved by 30% P < .001, while the teachers' knowledge improved by 43.1% P < .001.

Conclusion: Targeted eye health information and education on the importance of cornea donation improved teachers' willingness toward corneal donation and their willingness to encourage corneal donation. Utilising this information in formulating an education policy can be essential in driving the increased willingness and improved cornea donation in Nigerian schools.