American Academy of Ophthalmology Web Site: www.aao.org WHO
Cares: Ophthalmology Struggles to Meet Global Need In every
corner of the world, eye care professionals and public health
workers are tackling cataracts, managing retinopathies and
glaucomas, and treating trauma and infections. But looming over
these little miracles are clouds of poverty, dislocation and a
paucity of ophthalmologists. Apart from armed conflict or
widespread famine, few social or economic tragedies can impair
entire societies as profoundly as preventable blindness. “Visual
impairment is a major cause and consequence of unnecessary human
suffering, often leading to poverty, unemployment, ill health,
social exclusion and early death,” according to the
International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness. The agency
estimates that the annual global impact of blindness and low
vision is nearly $42 billion. As large as that number is, it
cannot account for the tremendous moral crises and emotional
losses involved: Approximately 60 percent