Two million suffer blindness, visual impairment
(VOV) -Vietnam is among poor countries with a large number of blind people who find it hard to access eye care services.
At an October 16 conference in Hanoi, to announce Vietnam’s national plan on blindness prevention in the 2014-2019 period, Pro. Nguyen Chi Dung from the Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO) revealed that around two million people in Vietnam are blind or face eye problems, and about one third of poor patients cannot afford eye care services.
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| Delegates at October 16 conference |
Dung said that the prevalence of blindness in 16 surveyed provinces and cities in 2007 was 3.1%, equivalent to the world’s average. Leading causes of blindness are cataracts (66.1%), followed by retinopathy, glaucoma, refractive error, and trachoma.
Nearly three million Vietnamese children are having sight problems, with two thirds of them contracting short-sightedness.
Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Viet Tien said approximately 75% of blindness causes is preventable, citing surgery for cataract patients as an option.
Participants at the conference proposed measures to reduce the blindness prevalence rates and improve eye care services.