Perspectives on Child Eye Health among Junior High School Teachers in Ledzokuku Krowor Municipality, Ghana

Although often trivialized, disorders of the eye affect a majority of the global population of all ages. There are an estimated 1.26 million blind children worldwide, of which approximately 33% live in Africa [1-3]. Each year, an estimated half a million children become blind, of whom 60% die in childhood. Notable among the causes of blindness and visual impairment among children are vitamin A deficiency, congenital cataract, corneal scarring from measles, use of harmful traditional eye remedies and microbial infections from bacteria and viruses [4,5], most of which are easily preventable or treatable. Sub-Saharan Africa carries the greatest prevalence globally of childhood blindness at a rate of 1.24 blind children per 1,000 compared to 0.8 in India and 0.3 in Europe [4].