Eye Care in Central Africa

Approximately 26.3 million people across the World Health Organisation Africa Region (WHO AFRO) have some degree of visual impairment of whom 20.4 million have low vision and 5.9 million are considered blind.  80% of this blindness is preventable or treatable.  Major causes include cataracts, uncorrected refractive errors, glaucoma and other emerging causes such as diabetic retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration.  Added to this the neglected tropical diseases having an effect on vision, (onchocerciasis, trachoma and leprosy) are prevalent in many African countries.1