Magnitude and Causes of Visual Impairment and Blindness Among Children Attending Paediatric Eye Clinic at Santhiram Medical College

Abstract

BACKGROUNDThe number of blind years resulting from blindness in children is alarmingly high. Blindness in children can have a significa nt impact on their performance at school as well as their social interaction and future employment as visually impaired children have a long lifetime of blindness ahead of them. The consequences of visual impairment and blindness in children are an important public health issues with greater impact in developing countries, where 80% of the blindness in children occurs. The control of blindness in children is considered a high priority area within the World Health Organization's VISION 2020 initiative. However many developing countries do not have the accurate information about the magnitude and causes of visual impairment and blindness in children, from which the scope and priorities for prevention and treatment can be identified. To date the established Pediatric Eye Clinic, which works as a Tertiary Eye Centre does not have baseline data on the magnitude and causes of visual impairment and blindness in children.

Magnitude and causes of visual impairment amongst school children in the Bono Region of Ghana

“…When compared with studies conducted in Ghana, the prevalence of blindness observed seems to be midway between that reported from the Central Region of Ghana (0.1%) 16 and from the Ashanti Region (0.29%). 11 However, the prevalence of blindness in this study was considerably lower than 4% as reported by Kumar et al 12 in a developing country. Overall, the prevalence of VI was found to be 1.4%, and this is similar to the prevalence of VI as reported in the Cape Coast Municipality of Ghana (1.4%) 16 and the Kwabre East District (1.5%).…”

“…To this extent, several studies have reported that the prevalence of blindness ranges between 0.02% 44 and 4.00%. 12 The differences in prevalence may be because of differences in sample sizes used in previous studies, the definition of blindness adopted and the methods of measurements used in these different studies. The prevalence of blindness in the present study (0.2%) is slightly higher than the worldwide estimate.…”

“…10,11 A slightly higher number of male participants had VI compared with female participants, and this trend is similar to other studies that reported prevalence of VI in children. 12,47 However, available evidence amongst adult populations in Africa, Asia and other developed countries reported that females account for approximately two-thirds of the number of people with blindness and/or VI. 48 This gender discrepancy might be explained by the increased life expectancy amongst elderly women than men particularly in developed countries, as well as factors such as poverty and lack of access to eye care services particularly in developing countries.…”

“…countries where about 80% of the blindness in children occurs. 12 Studies reveal that one-third to half of childhood blindness is either preventable or treatable. 13 During a child's first 12 years of life, about 80% of all learning occurs through vision 14 and yet most children may not have had a comprehensive eye examination prior to starting school.…”