Managing blindness in India

The magnitude of visual impairment worldwide is estimated to be 285 million people, out of which 39 million are blind, and 246 million have low vision.¹ Most of these visually impaired people are aged 50 years or more. The number of visually impaired people in India is estimated at 62 million, of which eight million have severe sight impairment.² Worryingly, the number of elderly persons is rising and so the burden of sight loss is expected to increase.³

Cataract is the commonest disease cause of curable blindness the world over and represents a significant problem throughout India. Government authorities and voluntary organisations are targeting cataract, but much still needs to be done (figure 1). The other major cause of sight loss is uncorrected refractive error where, again, much work needs to be done. Taking these two causes into account, over 80% of visual impairment among elderly persons in India is either avoidable or treatable.