Abstract
Objective: To assess the willingness on corneal donation among rural adults in Central Ethiopia.
Design: A community based, cross sectional study.
Setting: The study was conducted in Wolkite town, Central Ethiopia.
Methods: Data collection was through a house to house visit with face to face interviews. Systematic
random sampling method was used. A total of 492 residents aged 18 years or older living in the
randomly sampled housing units were included in the study.
Results: The mean age of respondents was 33 years (range 18-60) and 55.3% were females. From all
adults, 57.9% were willing to pledge to donate eyes while only 30.9% were aware of eye donation.
On multiple logistic regression, willingness to donate was associated only with previous awareness
on eye donation (adjusted OR 0.434, 95 % CI: 0.266 - 0.709). The main reason given for being willing
to donate (73.7%) was the feeling that they will be pleased to help the blind. The main reason for
unwillingness (59.4%) was the belief that it was important to have an intact body after passing away
(dislike to separate the eye from the body).
Conclusion: A good proportion of participants were willing to donate their corneas while the awareness
level was low. Previous awareness on eye donation was the major factor associated with willingness
to donate.
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