Introduction
Health literacy has come to be used to refer to an individual’s capacity to understand health information and catch up in the healthcare process. Low health literacy among the population is associated with deteriorated health outcomes (1). Awareness of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) includes general knowledge, risk factors, and consequences owing to CKD (2). CKD defined as an estimated or measured glomerular filtration rate (GFR) < 60 mL/min/1.73m2 that persists for ≥three months with or without evidence of kidney damage or evidence of kidney damage with or without decreased GFR (3).
Early identification and management of CKD can reduce undesired outcomes related to the disease. However, nearly all CKD conditions were not clinically familiar primarily because of the poor public awareness about the disease (4). Limited general knowledge of the particular disease is an obstacle to the successful implementation of prevention programs (5). In 676 patients with CKD, more than 1/3rd of patients claim to know little about their CKD diagnosis, and nearly half reported that they did not know of treatment alternatives if their kidneys failed (6). In Ethiopia, there is a shift from infectious disease into non-communicable chronic disease in the past few decades (7).
The causes of CKD differ worldwide. Poor glycemic control, uncontrolled hypertension, nephrotoxins drugs, and smoking are recognized as the leading risk factors of CKD (8,9). Between 1990 and 2010, the spread of CKD moved up to significant lists of causes of global death, from 29th to 18th (10). A large Chinese study found a 10.8% prevalence of CKD. Hence only 12.5% of them knew about their disease (11).
There is a consensus that CKD prevention is the best health policy alternative for decreasing the costs associated with a better health outcome of this disease, particularly in developing countries with limited healthcare resources (12). Therefore, creating awareness about CKD and its risk factors among the public is generating considerable interest in terms of strategies for CKD prevention. Whereas, limited knowledge about the disease and possible risk factors set to become a vital factor in prevention strategies with limited or poor effectiveness, causing financial burden in the health care system, poor clinical outcome including progressing to advanced stage of the disease.
Information about public knowledge of CKD is crucial to understand the information gap and planning several educational interventions. However, previous work in Ethiopia has only focused on aspects of CKD prevention and failed to address public knowledge. Therefore, this cross-sectional study was conducted to seek to answer the fallacy areas in the population by evaluating public awareness. The findings of this study will assist in identifying knowledge gaps, preparing educational sessions, facilitating screening programs among the society, and preventing the occurrence of CKD. Therefore, the current study aimed at assessing the public knowledge of CKD by using a validated tool.