Haemoglobinopathy Awareness among Young Students in Turkey: Outcomes of a City-Wide Survey

Abstract

The success of prevention programs demonstrated the importance of raising awareness about haemoglobinopathies since the lack of knowledge and awareness about the disorders may serve as barriers to prevention, disclosure of disease status as well as to testing for haemoglobinopathies. The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of middle and high school students towards haemoglobinopathies in Hatay, where the disorders are prevalent. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 8th and 9th grade students across Hatay including all sub provinces. From May 2012 to December 2012, a total of 1925 students filled the questionnaires which query the knowledge level and attitudes of students by face to face method. Among questions regarding students’ knowledge about haemoglobinopathies, the lowest correct response rate was observed in “How do these diseases transmit?” with 31.8%, meaning most of the students did not know that the diseases are transmitted by heredity. Significant differences were observed between the correct answer rates of the students and their status of being previously informed. Students who had a diseased person around were having a 2.597-fold (95%CI = 1.886–3.575); students possessing at least one parent at secondary education level or above were having a 1.954-fold higher probability of being previously informed (95%CI = 1.564–2.443). Due to the lack of knowledge about haemoglobinopathies in middle and high school students, we suggest health education programs including informative lectures particularly about the genetic basis of the disorders especially in the regions where the disorders are prevalent.

Lack of knowledge and misperceptions about thalassaemia among college students in Bangladesh: a cross-sectional baseline study

“…We found that the level of thalassaemia awareness was surprisingly low, and only one-third of the respondents (33%, n = 1578) had heard of thalassaemia. Being situated in the world's thalassaemia belt with an estimated carrier of about 6-12%, this result is quite unexpected [4] as compared to other thalassaemia-prevalent countries such as Malaysia (~87%), Italy (85%), Greece (95%), Bahrain (65%), Turkey (58%) and Saudi Arabia (48%) [12,[22][23][24][25][26]. This indicates that a major public health concern has been overlooked in Bangladesh.…”

“…Data on knowledge and attitude about thalassaemia were collected using a structured questionnaire. The design of the study questionnaire was based on a review of studies found in the literature [12,[25][26][27]40], and after consultation with experts including clinicians, public health researchers and a statistician. The questionnaire, which consisted of 22 questions divided into 2 parts, was prepared in the Bengali language, however, some of the medical terminologies could not be directly translated.…”

Cross-sectional study on knowledge, attitude and practice towards thalassaemia among Indonesian youth

“…On the other hand, neighbouring countries such as Malaysia had already implemented thalassaemia screening programme at school since 2016. 32 Association between KAP and sociodemographic factors Good KAP was more prevalent among young adults (age [19][20][21][22][23][24] than adolescents (age 15-18), as older youth with higher education generally had higher literacy to better understand thalassaemia from books and social media. 33 Women were more likely to have good KAP, which was consistent with findings from studies in Iran 33 34 and Bahrain.…”

The Viability and Utility of Ecclesiastical Demands for HIV and Genotype Medical Tests Information before Church Mediated Marital Union in Nigeria

“…Premarital screening programmes have been shown to be successful in reducing cases of hemoglobinopathies in countries such as Turkey and Saud Arabia (Okyay, Çelenk, Nazlıcan & Akbaba). Also, Okyay et al (2016) highlighted the importance of creating awareness and knowledge about the disorders to encourage would-be spouses to attend genetic counseling clinics before considering marriage.…”