Knowledge assessment of lead poisoning precautionary measures among women of child-bearing age in high lead exposure residential areas in Kabwe District
type: CreativeWork
description: Lead poisoning contributes 0.9 per cent of developing countries’ disease burden. Lead poisoning is due to excessive lead exposure to the human body. In Zambia, Kabwe is one of the most affected towns due to its previous mining activities. Studies done by ZCCM-IH and others show that currently, 35 per cent of Kabwe’s population or 13,952 households in Katondo, Railways, Chowa, Kasanda and Makululu are exposed to high levels of lead with a median soil concentration of above 500mg/kg, 48 per cent of child bearing age women were exposed to lead poisoning. This prompted ZCCM-IH to conduct sensitization. However, health institutional data has continued to show a high number of children being diagnosed with lead poisoning. Therefore the study attempted to answer the research question whether women of child-bearing age in Kabwe’s high lead residential exposure areas know the precautionary measures against Lead poisoning in their homes. Women who were able to answer/list at least eight types of lead poisoning preventive measures were considered knowledgeable. The purpose of the study was to assess the extent of knowledge of precautionary measures among women of child-bearing age who stay in high lead poisoning exposure residential areas in Kabwe because of their triple roles they play in the prevention of lead poisoning in homes. The study surveyed 430 households using structured interview schedule in high lead endemic residential areas of Makululu, Chowa and Kasanda. Makululu and Kasanda had two Focus Group Discussions each. The sample included women aged 13-49 years old. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS computer software package. The Chi-square (χ²) test was used to test for significant associations between independent and dependent variables (p-value < 0.05). The results revealed that knowledge level of precautionary measures among women of child-bearing age was low at 40.9% (p-value = 0.0055) despite staying in high lead poisoning exposure residential areas and …
abstract: Lead poisoning contributes 0.9 per cent of developing countries’ disease burden. Lead poisoning is due to excessive lead exposure to the human body. In Zambia, Kabwe is one of the most affected towns due to its previous mining activities. Studies done by ZCCM-IH and others show that currently, 35 per cent of Kabwe’s population or 13,952 households in Katondo, Railways, Chowa, Kasanda and Makululu are exposed to high levels of lead with a median soil concentration of above 500mg/kg, 48 per cent of child bearing age women were exposed to lead poisoning. This prompted ZCCM-IH to conduct sensitization. However, health institutional data has continued to show a high number of children being diagnosed with lead poisoning. Therefore the study attempted to answer the research question whether women of child-bearing age in Kabwe’s high lead residential exposure areas know the precautionary measures against Lead poisoning in their homes. Women who were able to answer/list at least eight types of lead poisoning preventive measures were considered knowledgeable. The purpose of the study was to assess the extent of knowledge of precautionary measures among women of child-bearing age who stay in high lead poisoning exposure residential areas in Kabwe because of their triple roles they play in the prevention of lead poisoning in homes. The study surveyed 430 households using structured interview schedule in high lead endemic residential areas of Makululu, Chowa and Kasanda. Makululu and Kasanda had two Focus Group Discussions each. The sample included women aged 13-49 years old. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS computer software package. The Chi-square (χ²) test was used to test for significant associations between independent and dependent variables (p-value < 0.05). The results revealed that knowledge level of precautionary measures among women of child-bearing age was low at 40.9% (p-value = 0.0055) despite staying in high lead poisoning exposure residential areas and …
author: Mpokota, Stabbes
language: en
keywords: Lead Poisoning-Prevention, Lead Poisoning-Kabwe, Zambia
date published: 2015-01-29
date modified: 2026-07-27T22:06:42Z
provider: University of Zimbabwe
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Zimbabwe