New data for World Sight Day shows global blindness is lower than expected

The global prevalence of blindness stands at 36 million people, according to research published in medical journal The Lancet to mark World Sight Day on 12 October.

Given the growing and ageing global population this is much less than expected, which is attributed to the work to combat avoidable blindness undertaken by Sightsavers and other members of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), a global alliance of eye care organisations.

The research, by the Vision Loss Expert Group (VLEG), shows that 253 million people worldwide are blind or visually impaired, of which 55 per cent are women. The main causes are uncorrected refractive errors (123.8 million people) and cataracts (65.2 million), followed by age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.

Read the full news story here: https://www.sightsavers.org/news/2017/10/world-sight-day-global-blindness-lower-expected/