Awareness and knowledge about cataract and factors affecting cataract surgery among rural population of Punjab

Aim: to evaluate the awareness and knowledge about cataract,its risk factors and treatment modalities in rural population of punjab,study design: cross-sectional study place and duration of study: this study was carried out in the rural areas of district sahiwal punjab from march 2017 to june 2017. methods: a total of 500 participants were enrolled through a non-probability,convenient sampling method. community members of age 20 years to 70 years were interviewed by lady health workers during their routine visits in community after written informed consent through a pre-designed,pre-tested questionnaire. the obtained data was then analyzed using spss. results showed that 82.2% had heard about cataract but only 44.8% knew that it is the opacity of lens. 51.8% thought that blindness caused by cataract cannot be cured. knowledge about risk factors was not very good. 57% population knew that surgery is the effective treatment for cataract and 75% had heard about intraocular lens however 62.8% population was not aware of the availability of free surgical facility in government hospitals. conclusion: our study showed that about half of population had good knowledge about cataract and its risk factors,but majority did not know about presence of free surgery in government hospitals.