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Pilot Project Barguna
From December,2009 to January,2010
Background and Observation:
We came to know that the farmers are at risk of eye injury during the harvest season, when a tiny sprig of paddy stalk or part of the paddy husk gets into their eyes; this causes irritation and if left untreated, results in the formation of ulcers to the extent of finally the loss of their eyes. To prevent this, all they need is a cheap pair of protective eye goggles. Since one harvesting season was just round the corner, we immediately planned to supply goggles to a few thousands of farmers.
To know if our effort is of any significance, we have devised a pilot project in Barguna, Bangladesh and teamed up with the volunteers of Prothom Alo Bondhu Shobha [Prothom Alo is the premier daily news paper in Bangladesh].
The objective:
This project is launched to find out whether providing eyewears have any significant impact on the prevention of eye injury in farmers.
Methodology: A control experimental design, where
1.Two fairly identical farmers group will be chosen.
2. The before observation [which is before any intervention] will be made by collecting data from both groups at the same time. The observation to be recorded is the condition of the farmer’s cornea; a doctor will record if the farmer has any corneal injury or corneal ulcer.
3.The Group A farmers will be provided with protective eyewear prior to harvesting season and would be encouraged to wear it. The group B farmers will not be provided with eyewear this season.
4.The after observation will be made once the harvesting season is over, the doctor will check for any injury or ulcer in farmer’s cornea for both groups.
5.Before and after observation data will be compared to find out the role of protective eye goggles on farmer’s corneal injury.
Project Area:
Ten villages in Barguna district were selected, and divided in two groups:
Group A villages:
Khajurtola
Gourichonna
Heulibunia
Lobongola
Gaabtoli
Farmers in Group A villages will be provided with eyewear this season.
Group B villages:
Gazi Mahmud
Patakata
Taaltoli
Lotakata
Porirkhal
We will not distribute eyewear in group B villages during this harvest season.
Project duration:
Phase I: Collection of before observation and distribution of Eyewear: First week of December 2009 to January 20,2010 [approximately]
Phase II: Collection of after data. : March/April 2010
The volunteers:
Thirty Prothom Alo Bondhu Shobha volunteers in ten groups will collect basic information about the farmers for group A and group B villages, by filling up a preset questionnaire prepared by Drishtee. The volunteers had several meetings with the Drishtee Bangladesh, where they were given handouts outlining their responsibility.
Data: [will be updated when available]
The result: [will be updated when available]
Limitation of the study: [ more when available]
If the farmers fail to wear the protective eyewear during work, then no conclusion could be reached regarding the impact of eyewear use in preventing corneal injury. We would encourage the volunteers to monitor if the farmers are wearing the protective goggle or not.
There could be eye injury which is unrelated to harvesting, we need the farmers to report it correctly to have any confidence on our result.
Download Brochure and Questionnaire
Brochure in Bengali
Questionnaire Form
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