More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to blindness.pptx
Similar to blindness.pptx (20)
More from Beings1
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
blindness.pptx
- 1. Blindness, Visual Impairment a nd Low Vision and Community Eye Health By Okwuo Ikechukwu (M.B.B.S Nig )
- 2. Definition of Blindness • Blindness is the condition of lacking visua l perception due to physiological or neurol ogical factors
- 3. Definition of Blindness • The 10th Revision of the WHO Internation al Statistical Classification of Diseases, Inj uries and Causes of Death gives definition of blindness • Blindness is defined as visual acuity of les s than 3/60, or corresponding visual field l oss to less than 10 degrees, in the better e ye with best possible correction.
- 4. Epidemiology of blindness • A November 2004 WHO article Magnitude and causes of visual impairm ent, estimated that in 2002 there were 161 million (about 2.6% of the world population) visually impaired people in the world, of whom 124 million (abou t 2%) had low vision and 37 million (about 0.6%) were blind. • Blindness occurs in both children and in adults but the major causes may dif fer. • Blindness occur every where in the world. – Since the major causes of blindness are inequitably distributed, the burden of bli ndness is also skewed in favour of the developed countries of the world.
- 5. Major Causes of Blindness • Most visual impairment is caused by disease and malnutrition. • According to WHO estimates in 2002, the most common causes of b lindness around the world are: – cataracts (47.8%), – glaucoma (12.3%), – uveitis (10.2%), – age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (8.7%), – trachoma (3.6%), – corneal opacity (5.1%), and – diabetic retinopathy (4.8%), among other causes.
- 6. Major Causes of Blindness • Uncorrected refractive errors is an emerging imp ortant cause of visual impairment are. • Severe refractive errors have been estimated to account for about 5 million blind people. • According to the most recent data available to W HO, there are an estimated 124 million people in the world with low vision. • About a fourth of these would benefit from low vi sion services
- 7. Major Causes of Blindness • People in developing countries are significantly more likely to experience visual impairment as a consequence of treatable or preventable conditi ons than are their counterparts in the developed world. • While vision impairment is most common in peo ple over age 60 across all regions, children in po orer communities are more likely to be affected b y blinding diseases than are their more affluent p eers.
- 8. Major Causes of Blindness • The link between poverty and treatable visual im pairment is most obvious when conducting regio nal comparisons of cause. – Most adult visual impairment in North America and W estern Europe is related to age-related macular dege neration and diabetic retinopathy. • While both of these conditions are subject to treatment, neith er can be cured. – Another common cause is retinopathy of prematurity. • In developing countries, wherein people have sh orter life expectancies, cataracts and water-born e parasites—both of which can be treated effecti vely—are most often the culprits.
- 9. Major Causes of Blindness • Abnormalities and injuries – Eye injuries, most often occur in people under 30, are the leading cause of monocular blindn ess – Abnormalities such as optic nerve hypoplasia can lead to decreased visual acuity. – Injuries to the occipital lobe of the brain, witho ut direct damage to the eyes and optic nerves , may still lead to legal or total blindness
- 10. Treatment of Blindness and visu al impairment • This depends on and is mostly directed at the cause. – Medical treatment is aimed at controlling infections, inflammation s and other treatable causes of blindness. • Once blindness has occurred, available options are redu ced to – Cure in the limited cases of curable avoidable blindness or – Rehabilitating the incurably and unavoidably blind. • Refractive errors can be rectified with appropriate optical correction while people with low vision may be helped wit h low vision devices
- 11. Levels of Prevention of Blindnes s • Primary Prevention: this aims at preventi ng a blinding disease from occurring in an individual or community. – Tools for this include health education, immun ization, personal, Community and environmen tal sanitation and modification; nutrition and n utrition education; and poverty alleviation.
- 12. Levels of Prevention of Blindnes s • Secondary Prevention: this aims at treating a b linding disease that has already occurred in an i ndividual or prevalent in a community such that it does not lead to blinding complications or in the case of a community reducing its prevalence the reby significantly eliminating blindness attributab le to it. – Essential tools for this include health education, perso nnel training and deployment, establishment of appro priate health facilities, provision of drugs and supplies , community mobilization, and strategies targeted at t he prevention; poverty alleviation and control of specif ic blinding diseases.
- 13. Levels of Prevention of Blindnes s • Tertiary Prevention: this is aimed at cure of cur able blindness. – Provision of safe, high volume surgical services is the main tool for this. – Reducing the backlog of cataract-blind mainly require s training ophthalmic personnel, strengthening the exi sting health care infrastructure, affordable pricing, and the availability of surgical supplies. – Adjuncts include poverty alleviation, community mobili zation and social marketing techniques. • For the elimination of avoidable blindness, th e integration of primary eye care into primary health care is advocated.