Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness in the Western Region of Afghanistan

Sayed Farooq hosaini, MD¹. Saeed Torabi, MBBS² . Khairullah karimi, OTT³.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to rapidly assess the causes of avoidable blindness in rural villages of the western region of Afghanistan.

Methods: In this study, 1200 individuals aging 50 or more, in 24 clusters from 24 villages underwent an aided and with pinhole Visual Acuity checking, ocular surface, pupillary reaction, lens condition and direct ophthalmoscopy. The examinations were conducted house to house by a team including an Eye doctor and an optometrist. All the datas were entered daily to the RAAB software and the results were automatically delevered.

Results: The prevalence of all blind eyes were 7.7%, sever visual impairment 9.33% and visual impairment 12.3%. The prevalence of bilateral blindness with available correction was 2.4% in males and 2.1% in females, unilateral blindness was 10.4% in male and 10.3% in female. The prevalence of bilateral blindness due to cataract was 0.5% in male, 1.2% in female. The principle cause of blindness was untreated cataract: 50.0% in males and 88.9% in female.

Conclusion: The principle cause of of avoidable blindness in the western region was untreated cataract in both gender but the number is much higher in female. So free cataract surgery eye camps and training of expert cataract surgeons will help to reduce the number of blind people in the western region of Afghanistan.
Keywords rapid assessment of avoidable blindness, cataract,