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Necessity for enhanced public awareness to improve upon currently achieved visual outcomes in children: observations from a western India study

Department of Ophthalmology, SSG Medical College and Hospital, Vadodara, India

Correspondence to:
R Chaturvedi, Department of Ophthalmology, SSG Medical College and Hospital, Vadodara, Gujarat 390001, India; rituchaturvedi16@gmail.com

Accepted 2 February 2008

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

It has been demonstrated that control of blindness in children is closely linked to child survival, as many of the conditions associated with blindness in children are also causes of child mortality (eg, premature birth, measles, congenital rubella syndrome, vitamin A deficiency and meningitis).¹ In addition, the number of blind years due to all causes of blindness in children is almost equal to the number of blind years due to cataract in adults,¹ revealing the significant impact of childhood visual impairment in terms of disability-associated life years.

With these facts in mind, a small hospital-based pilot study was conducted at a tertiary health centre, catering to the middle and low socio-economic population strata, in a major city of the western state of Gujarat, India, over a 1-year period (2005–2006). One of the primary objectives was to determine the relative proportions of paediatric and adult populations being provided with clinical eye . . . [Full text of this article]