The Monitor, Uganda Sunday, December 17, 2006 100 million to get blind by 2020 - report
By JOHN A. EMOJONG Tororo At least 100 million people world-wide will be blind by 2020 if no preventive action is taken, a research by a German optician Andreas Martin has revealed. The survey by Dr Andreas "The Vision 2020-The Right to Sight" revealed that 45-50 million people are currently blind, and that 90 per cent of the blind live in the developing world. The report said at-least seven million people go blind every year. "Ninety per cent of blind children have no access to schooling. And 80 per cent of blind adults are unemployed owing to lack of training," Dr Andreas said. The report also reveals that people in developing countries run a 10 times higher risk of going blind than those in industrialised nations. And that the direct economic cost of the global burden of blindness is $25 billion. Dr Andreas said blindness and other eye diseases are on the increase world-wide. He said whereas in the developed countries, every patient has access to eye care, those in the developing countries depend on their governments and NGOs. Dr. Andreas cites difficulty in getting to hospitals by the rural population, lack of medical staff, lack of clean water in most rural communities, lack of health education and preventive care of eyes and malnutrition as some of the major causes of blindness. "Vitamin A deficiency is the major cause of childhood blindness. Between 350,000 and 500,000 children go blind annually. 70 per cent of the infants who go blind because of vitamin A deficiency die within two years. Vitamin A capsules save sight and lives," he said. He says 70 to 80 per cent of blindness is avoidable if health education and preventive care services are provided. He emphasises availability of more doctors and other eye-care personnel to those affected. He calls for establishment of more clinics and appropriate methods of treatment and surgery, provision of clean water to the rural communities and having adequate supply of vitamin A providers as some of the appropriate methods of preventing blindness. Dr Andreas is the programme director of Benedictine Eye Hospital in Tororo. http://www.monitor.co.ug/news/reg12184.php -- E. G. Ravikumar E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Mobile: 0-9841394775 To unsubscribe send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
