Three trillion dollar bill for vision

The global cost of vision loss is estimated at nearly $3 trillion ($2,954bn) for the 733 million people living with low vision and blindness in 2010, according to a new report.

The Global Economic Cost of Visual Impairment report, developed by Access Economics for AMD Alliance International (AMDAI), also warned that these costs would rise dramatically through to 2020 unless effective prevention and treatment strategies were adopted worldwide.

AMDAI and The World Blind Union have made five recommendations for cutting costs. These are: frequent screening of people with diabetes and the elderly increased training among doctors in cataract surgery funding and distribution of medication to treat river blindness and trachoma and early treatment of childhood diseases.