Abstract

A random sample of 9548 Palestinian Arabs living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip was identified, and 9054 (95.7%) were examined. Particular attention was directed to reduced visual acuity (VA) and its cause and to trachoma. Low visual acuity was defined as less than 6/18 in both eyes and binocular blindness as a VA less than 3/60 in both eyes. The overall incidence of low VA was 6.8% and of binocular blindness 1.7%. The three principal causes of blindness in order of frequency were cataract, trachoma, and corneal leucoma. These three conditions accounted for 66.7% of binocular blindness. Trachoma was present in 2568 (28.4%) of the 9054 people examined.