Prevention of Blindness
By Dr Arvind Kumar
1st April inaugurates the commencement of the prevention of blindness week to be observed from 1 to 7 April by the National Society for the Prevention of Blindness-India (NSPB-I) and its State and district branches. According to broad estimates, India had 7 million blind people. As per criteria to assess blindness adopted by the Government of India, nearly 15 million were blind according to the 2001 Census. Of them, 2.70 lakh were children aged less than 16. Over 50 per cent of blindness could be prevented in children. In many cases, impairment of vision was preventable or curable. There is lack of knowledge about proper nutrition and hygiene.
An estimated 456 million people of India’s total population require vision correction (spectacles, contact lenses or refractive surgery) to be able to see and function for learning, work and life in general. Twenty six million people are blind or vision impaired due to eye disease. A further 133 million people, including 11 million children, are blind or vision impaired due to simply from lack of an eye examination and an appropriate pair of glasses (uncorrected refractive error).
A Delhi Declaration was endorsed by all stake holders of optometry in January 2010 which stated that “optometrist commit to providing excellent vision care to all those who seek the service of an optometrist”. This declaration was made possible through the support of International center of Eye care education (ICEE) and the meeting was sponsored by the Australia India Council (AIC). This declaration is historical and highlights the commitment of optometrist towards eradication of avoidable blindness.
The theme for the week is “Systematic Diseases Affecting the Eyes”.
