PURPOSE To identify the causes of blindness and severe visual impairment (BL/SVI) in children attending schools for the blind in Sri Lanka, and to provide optical devices and ophthalmic treatment where indicated. METHODS Two hundred and six children under 16 years from 13 schools for the blind in Sri Lanka were examined by a team of ophthalmologists and optometrists. Data were entered in the ...

Aims: To determine the causes of severe visual impairment and blindness in children in schools for the blind in Ethiopia, to aid in planning for the prevention and management of avoidable causes. Methods: Children attending three schools for the blind in Ethiopia were examined during April and May 2001 using the standard WHO/PBL eye examination record for children with blindness and low vision ...

article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License. Inequities are often discovered and discussed around prevalence studies, which produces data relating to various types of inequities. It sits in the space of periodic assessment and continues to remain predominantly in the knowledge rather than action realm. Therefore there is a need for a paradigm shift in how w...

AIMS To determine the causes of severe visual impairment and blindness in children in schools for the blind in Ethiopia, to aid in planning for the prevention and management of avoidable causes. METHODS Children attending three schools for the blind in Ethiopia were examined during April and May 2001 using the standard WHO/PBL eye examination record for children with blindness and low vision ...

We have just passed the halfway mark for the VISION 2020 global initiative, which was launched in 1999 with the goal to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. This is a good time to take stock of what we have achieved and what still needs to be done. The success of VISION 2020 has to be judged against its impact on reducing levels of avoidable blindness in the world. Although still to ...

There is fortunately increasing international awareness of the problem of needless blindness from trachoma and enhanced international cooperation. This is exemplified by the World Health Organization Alliance for the Global Elimination of Blinding Trachoma by 2020 (GET 2020), the World Health Assembly resolution 51.11, 1998, and the inclusion of trachoma as a priority under the disease control ...

INTRODUCTION A rapid assessment of avoidable blindness (RAAB) was conducted in Southern Zambia to establish the prevalence and causes of blindness in order to plan effective services and advocate for support for eye care to achieve the goals of VISION 2020: the right to sight. METHODS Cluster randomisation was used to select villages in the survey area. These were further subdivided into segm...

Pterygium leading to bilateral blindness and forcing patient to quit job is uncommon. This is a case report of a 46 year old indigent woman who had blinding pterygia over 10 years. She could not afford pterygium excision offered in a private eye clinic where she initially presented after a period of unsuccessful self medication. She was forced out of sewing job consequent to her inability to th...

purpose : cataract is one of the most common diseases of older ages and, at present, the leading cause of avoidable blindness in the world. along with the population growth, the rate of cataract surgeries is increasing in most countries worldwide. the number of cataract operations per million population per year is known as the cataract surgery rate (csr) and is one of the indicators introduced...