There is some good news. Blindness and visual impairment (VI) in India reduced by 47.1% and 51.9%, respectively, in 2019, in overall Population as compared to WHOs figures of 2010.
However, India is yet to achieve WHO’s goal of reducing blindness to 0.3% of the total population, as the present figures stand at 0.36%.
According to a recent study for estimating the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment in the Indian population, more than one fourth of people aged 50 years and above are visually impaired in India and the prevalence of blindness among them is 1.99%.
Among the 31 surveyed districts, the highest prevalence was seen in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh (3.7%), whereas the lowest was in Thrissur, Kerala (1.1%).
The major causes of blindness included cataract (66.2%), followed by corneal opacity (8.2%), cataract surgical complications (7.2%), posterior segment disorders (5.9%), and glaucoma (5.5%).
In the population aged 50 years and above, the prevalence of blindness has declined from 5.3% in 2001 to 3.6% in 2007, and to 1.9% in the current survey.
The study revealed that a higher prevalence was noted in females than in males and participants residing in rural regions had higher prevalence of blindness than those living in urban regions.