Causes of avoidable blindness in Parakou

Abstract

Introduction: Blindness and severe visual impairments have huge consequences on the socioeconomic development of individuals and human communities. Objective: This research work aims to determine the causes of avoidable blindness in the city of Parakou (BENIN). Method: This is a descriptive and prospective study. It was carried out during a time period of one (01) month. All the subjects with vision impairment who were blind and present during the study period were inclued. The main variable investigated was the causes of blindness. Findings: Blindness prevalence was estimated at 78.72%. Subjects' mean age was equal to 16.54 ± 3.75 years with extremes from 9 to 25 years. 11 to 16 years age group accounted for 51.35%. The male subjects accounted for 76%. The main anatomical localizations observed were cornea (24.32%), all the eyeball (18.92%) and crystalline lens (16.22%). The main causes of blindness were bilateral congenital cataract (13.51%), bilateral bulbar phthisis (13.51%) and total bilateral microphthalmia (10.81%). 15 (40.54 %) out of the 37 patients had blindness with preventable/avoidable causes. Among those avoidable causes, bilateral phthisis bulb accounted for 33.33% of cases. Conclusion: The prevalence of avoidable causes of blindness is high. Efforts still need to be made in order to improve the prevention and diagnosis of avoidable ophthalmic disorders, that may lead to blindness, through better access to and high quality of eye care.