Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Hygiene and the Prevention of Trachoma in the Indigenous Population of the Colombian Amazon Vaupés Department
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
3. Results
3.1. Origin and Transmission of Trachoma
“There are several people who do not care for our culture by eating mojojoy (Rhyncophorus palmarum beetle larva) from the pupuña palm (Bactris gasipaes) despite knowing that it produces trachoma disease.”
“To prevent trachoma, you must cover the food, wash your hands, cover the pots.”
“If families pray for protecting their children, they won’t get diseases like trachoma.”
“Ancestral medicine does not cure trachoma, when the disease starts during childhood, causes blindness; sometimes non-ancestral doctors cure the disease but in other cases they don’t.”
“Non-ancestral doctors give education and cure people when ancestral medicine doesn’t work.”
3.2. Attitudes toward Trachoma Prevention in the Community
“When you give hygiene education, some families accept it, others don’t; it’s very difficult.”
“Some people clean their children, others don’t; they learn little by little.”
“The health workers educate on hygiene, cleaning the home’ some families do it, especially women do not pay attention, some reject education.”
“The use of plant soap and foams has been lost because now commercial soap would be available.”
3.3. Hygiene Practices
“The lack of care from the mothers leads to secretions sticking to the eyelashes and become infected by that disease.”
“The mother did not bathe the child, causing trachoma and other transmissible diseases.”
“We, indigenous people, wash our faces with water, and older people combined it with crushed leaves from the forest.”
“When children are 7 years old, they already know how to wash their faces. The sisters are the ones who take care of the children; they are the ones who wash the hands, the face.”
“My husband protects our children and grandchildren through prayers against serious diseases; by doing that they protect families and children from diseases like trachoma.”
4. Discussion
4.1. Protective and Risky Practices for Trachoma
4.2. The Role of Women
4.3. The Need to Advance the Sociocultural Adaptation of the “F” Component of the SAFE Strategy
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Aspects Evaluated | KAP Survey | Focus Groups 5 | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
n1 | % | n1 | % | ||
Participants over 18 years old | 357 | 100 | 21 | 100 | |
Participating indigenous | 357 | 100 | 21 | 100 | |
Participating men | 260 | 72.8 | 13 | 61.9 | |
Participating women | 97 | 27.2 | 8 | 38.1 | |
Ethnicities represented 2 | 29 | 69.0 | 14 | 33.3 | |
Communities represented 3 | 160 | 72.7 | 14 | 6.4 | |
Sedentary settlement pattern | 334 | 93.6 | 19 | 90.5 | |
Roles within the family | Mother | 88 | 24.6 | - | - |
Father | 208 | 58.3 | - | - | |
Other | 61 | 17.1 | - | - | |
Role in the community 4 | Payé-Cumú | 61 | 17.1 | - | - |
Community leader | 125 | 35.0 | - | - | |
Teacher | 28 | 7.8 | - | - | |
Health promoter | 25 | 7.0 | - | - | |
No leadership role | 155 | 43.4 | - | - |
Aspects Evaluated | Sex of Respondent | p 4 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male n = 260 | Female n = 97 | Total n = 357 | |||||
n1 | % 2 | n 1 | % 2 | n1 | % 2 | ||
Origin and transmission of trachoma | 393 | 126 | 519 | ||||
Other (dirty water, contaminated food or air, river water, and other) | 80 | 30.8 | 22 | 22.7 | 102 | 28.6 | 0.132 |
Lack of cleanliness in the face and eyes 3 | 77 | 29.6 | 24 | 24.7 | 101 | 28.3 | 0.462 |
Did not know | 61 | 23.5 | 24 | 24.7 | 85 | 23.8 | 0.670 |
Due to a lack of cleanliness 3 (body) | 47 | 18.1 | 13 | 13.4 | 60 | 16.8 | 0.353 |
Passes from one person to another 3 | 40 | 15.4 | 16 | 16.5 | 56 | 15.7 | 0.697 |
Due to flies 3 | 39 | 15.0 | 11 | 11.3 | 50 | 14.0 | 0.438 |
Due to garbage 3 | 32 | 12.3 | 8 | 8.2 | 40 | 11.2 | 0.323 |
Did not answer | 10 | 3.8 | 7 | 7.2 | 17 | 4.8 | 0.183 |
Ancient resource elements (spirit and evil) 3 | 7 | 2.7 | 1 | 1.0 | 8 | 2.2 | 0.345 |
The cleanliness concept is associated with the following:3 | 316 | 109 | 425 | ||||
Bathing one or more times per day | 171 | 65.8 | 69 | 71.1 | 240 | 67.2 | 0.462 |
Use of commercial soap | 56 | 21.5 | 21 | 21.6 | 77 | 21.6 | 0.937 |
Other | 31 | 11.9 | 11 | 11.3 | 42 | 11.8 | 0.824 |
Did not answer | 19 | 7.3 | 5 | 5.2 | 24 | 6.7 | - |
Ancestral methods for obtaining soap from plants | 19 | 7.3 | 2 | 2.1 | 21 | 5.9 | 0.055 |
With prayers or ancestral medicine | 20 | 7.7 | 1 | 1.0 | 21 | 5.9 | 0.015 |
Trachoma prevention and treatment | 386 | 115 | 501 | ||||
Taking medicine 3 | 108 | 41.5 | 35 | 36.1 | 143 | 40.1 | 0.525 |
Following the recommendations of ancestral medicine 3 | 94 | 36.2 | 23 | 23.7 | 117 | 32.8 | 0.045 |
Consulting health workers (non-ancestral) 3 | 70 | 26.9 | 17 | 17.5 | 87 | 24.4 | 0.099 |
With good personal hygiene measures 3 | 58 | 22.3 | 16 | 16.5 | 74 | 20.7 | 0.306 |
Did not know | 38 | 14.6 | 14 | 14.4 | 52 | 14.6 | 0.905 |
Did not answer | 10 | 3.8 | 8 | 8.2 | 18 | 5.0 | - |
Other | 6 | 2.3 | 2 | 2.1 | 8 | 2.2 | 0.935 |
Cannot be prevented | 1 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0.3 | - |
It does not produce anything | 1 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.0 | 1 | 0.3 | - |
Aspects Evaluated | Sex of the Respondent | p 3 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male n = 260 | Female n = 97 | Total n = 357 | |||||
n 1 | % 2 | n 1 | % 2 | n 1 | % 2 | ||
How would you help the community? 4 | 481 | 169 | 650 | ||||
Informing the health workers (non-ancestral) | 126 | 48.5 | 36 | 37.1 | 162 | 45.4 | 0.036 |
Keeping the faces of children, young people, and adults clean | 116 | 44.6 | 36 | 37.1 | 152 | 42.6 | 0.150 |
Taking medication | 77 | 29.6 | 27 | 27.8 | 104 | 29.1 | 0.660 |
Informing the Cumú/Payé | 36 | 13.8 | 14 | 14.4 | 50 | 14.0 | 0.941 |
Keeping the home clean to avoid flies | 32 | 12.3 | 11 | 11.3 | 43 | 12.0 | 0.755 |
Accepting the medical brigade | 23 | 8.8 | 16 | 16.5 | 39 | 10.9 | 0.046 |
Participating in workshops or meetings on trachoma | 24 | 9.2 | 12 | 12.4 | 36 | 10.1 | 0.413 |
Collaborating in the care of trichiasis-operated patients | 20 | 7.7 | 8 | 8.2 | 28 | 7.8 | 0.901 |
Keeping towels, rags, and toiletries clean | 14 | 5.4 | 6 | 6.2 | 20 | 5.6 | 0.802 |
Did not answer | 13 | 5.0 | 3 | 3.1 | 16 | 4.5 | - |
Teaching others the importance of washing the face | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0.0 | - |
Hygiene Practices | Sex of the Respondent | p 3 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Male n = 260 | Female n = 97 | Total n = 357 | |||||
n 1 | % 2 | n 1 | % 2 | n 1 | % 2 | ||
Sharing clothes to dry the body after bathing | |||||||
Yes | 142 | 54.6 | 46 | 47.4 | 188 | 52.7 | 0.226 |
No | 118 | 45.4 | 51 | 52.6 | 169 | 47.3 | |
Daily frequency of washing the face of healthy children | |||||||
Many times | 154 | 59.2 | 67 | 69.1 | 221 | 61.9 | 0.116 |
Few times | 86 | 33.1 | 21 | 21.6 | 107 | 30.0 | |
Never | 7 | 2.7 | 2 | 2.1 | 9 | 2.5 | |
No answer | 13 | 5.0 | 7 | 7.2 | 20 | 5.6 | |
Daily frequency of washing the face of children when they have nasal or conjunctival discharge | |||||||
Many times | 238 | 91.5 | 88 | 90.7 | 326 | 91.3 | 0.931 4 |
Few times | 11 | 4.2 | 3 | 3.1 | 14 | 3.9 | |
Never | 7 | 2.7 | 2 | 2.1 | 9 | 2.5 | |
No answer | 4 | 1.5 | 4 | 4.1 | 8 | 2.2 | |
Elements for cleaning children’s nose and eyes 5 | |||||||
With a rag towel or clothing in use | 173 | 66.5 | 63 | 64.9 | 236 | 66.1 | 0.965 |
With water | 127 | 48.8 | 48 | 49.5 | 175 | 49.0 | 0.828 |
With hands or fingers | 36 | 13.8 | 5 | 5.2 | 41 | 11.5 | 0.023 |
No answer | 11 | 4.2 | 8 | 8.2 | 19 | 5.3 | |
Other | 8 | 3.1 | 4 | 4.1 | 12 | 3.4 | 0.610 |
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Trujillo-Trujillo, J.; Meza-Cárdenas, M.; Sánchez, S.B.; Zamora, S.M.; Porras, A.; López de Mesa, C.B.; Bernal Parra, L.M.; Bernal Lizarazú, M.C.; Miller, H.; Silva, J.C. Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Hygiene and the Prevention of Trachoma in the Indigenous Population of the Colombian Amazon Vaupés Department. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20, 4632. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054632
Trujillo-Trujillo J, Meza-Cárdenas M, Sánchez SB, Zamora SM, Porras A, López de Mesa CB, Bernal Parra LM, Bernal Lizarazú MC, Miller H, Silva JC. Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Hygiene and the Prevention of Trachoma in the Indigenous Population of the Colombian Amazon Vaupés Department. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(5):4632. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054632
Chicago/Turabian StyleTrujillo-Trujillo, Julián, Mónica Meza-Cárdenas, Sol Beatriz Sánchez, Sara Milena Zamora, Alexandra Porras, Clara Beatriz López de Mesa, Luz Mery Bernal Parra, María Consuelo Bernal Lizarazú, Hollman Miller, and Juan Carlos Silva. 2023. "Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Hygiene and the Prevention of Trachoma in the Indigenous Population of the Colombian Amazon Vaupés Department" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 20, no. 5: 4632. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20054632