An Investigation on Lead Poisoning Awareness and its Associated Factors among Kabwe Residents Living In High Lead Contaminated Areas.

Background: Lead poisoning is one of the public health concerns globally and locally especially in areas of mining activities. In Kabwe Zambia, there is an elevated risk of lead exposure due to improperly managed lead waste from the former lead mine. It is estimated that 76,000 people in Kabwe Zambia, live in high lead contaminated zones and half of the children in these areas have elevated blood lead levels of about 45 µg/dl which is more than 5 µg/dl prescribed by the World Health Organisation( WHO). Therefore,this justifies the need for investigating lead poisoning awareness in Kabwe Zambia. This study investigated on Lead poisoning awareness and its associated factors among Kabwe residents living in high lead contaminated areas.
Methods: The study used a quantitative cross sectional study design. This study design was opted for so as to collect exposure and outcome variables using a snap shot. 422 households were surveyed using questionnaires in high lead contaminated residential areas of Makululu, Chowa and Kasanda. The sample included Kabwe residents aged 12 to 61 years and above. Quantitative data was analyzed using STATA version 15.0
Results: The results revealed that 82.2% of the participants were aware about lead poisoning while 18.8% were not aware of this lead poisoning.
Conclusion:In conclusion,this study has revealed that those with tertiary education had a high probability of being aware about lead poisoning.77% of the participants with tertiary education were aware about lead poisoning.On the contrary, those with low levels of education had little chances of being aware about lead poisoning. Only 48%of the respondents without education were aware about lead poisoning.Furthermore,the residential area of participants coupled with socio economic status and demographic characteristics had a bearing on lead poisoning awareness. Forinstance,those in planned settlements had a better understanding on lead poisoning as compared to their counterparts in unplanned settlements.

Lead poisoning ,awareness, associated factors, Kabwe resident

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