Number of people in the world living with sight loss. 3 trillion
(USD) Real financial cost of visual impairment worldwide in
2010. Every 5 seconds, a person in the world goes blind. Visual
impairment is a significant health problem across the globe.
Although 80% of visual impairment is preventable, for the 40
million blind people across the globe, prevention is no longer
the cure (World Health Organization, 2002). The financial cost
in New Zealand itself amounts up to $2.8 billion, or $22,217 per
person with vision loss aged over 40 (RNZFB, 2009). Wellbeing,
healthcare, productivity and deadweight losses are part of the
economic cost for vision loss. With the loss of sight, many
people have to accommodate for a significant change of
lifestyle. Compared to people who are sighted, people with
vision loss experience: