Toxoplasma health education in Europe

Abstract

A questionnaire was sent to 53 teams with a specialist interest in congenital toxoplasmosis in 18 European countries. There was an 83 per cent response rate, but 20 teams in 12 countries were not aware of toxoplasma health education being done in their own country. Health education was often at a local rather than national level. The respondents are representa tive of specialists in this field and 86 per cent felt that a leaflet was the best way of communicating information about toxoplasmosis. The perceived ideal leaflet was about 550 words; used colour, figures and photographs; and was 21 cm by 29 cm folded to produce six pages. Health education was believed to be equally or more important than antenatal screening by 81 per cent, and 86 per cent felt that there should be a common European approach to health education.