WHO/NMH/PBD/12.

01

GLOBAL DATA ON
VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS
2010

Silvio_3.indd 1 2012-07-25 09:17:08

 World Health Organization 2012
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Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.


FOREWORD
Es ma ng the global magnitude of blindness and
visual impairments is part of the core func ons of WHO
andsince1995thePreven onofBlindnessteamhasbeen
issuingregularupdatesofthees mates.
The es mates, which are provided for the 6 WHO
regionsoeratooltomonitortheglobaltrendofavoida
bleblindnessandtoiden fyanysignificantchangesinthe
distribu on in the six regions and in the a ributed caus
es.
Fromtheprevalenceandthecausesoftheimpair
menttheneedofassessments,theinterven onsornorms
canbedefined;plansofac oncanbedevelopedormoni
tored.
Thedataindicatethatvisualimpairmentandblind
nessarelowerthaninpastes mates,withdierentdis
tribu oninWHOregions,andwithsignificantchangesin
thecauses.
INTRODUCTION
Inordertosetpoliciesandpriori esandtoevalu
ate global eye health, it is essen al to have up to date
informa ononprevalenceandoncausesofvisualimpair
ment.Asitpreviouslydidin1995,2002and2004(13)
the WHO Preven on of Blindness and Deafness Pro
grammehascarriedoutasystema csearchandreviewof
allavailabledatatoobtainaglobales mateofvisualim
pairment for 2010. Es mates of visual impairment have
beenderivedatgloballevelandinthesixWHORegions.
The major causes of visual impairment and of blindness
havebeendetermined.Thesees matesprovideessen al
informa onforthepreven onofvisualimpairmentand
theimprovementofeyehealthglobally.
METHODS
Defini ons
The defini ons of visual impairment used for the
es matesinthisstudyfollowthecategoriesoftheInter
na onal Classifica on of Diseases Update and Revision
2006 that defines impairment according to presen ng
vision (h p://www.who.int/classifica ons/
icd/2006updates.pdf).
Visual impairment comprises categories 1 to 5,
blindness,categories3to5.Thetwocategoriesofmoder
ate and severe visual impairment (<6/18 > 6/60 and
<6/60 >3/60) are combined in this study (<6/18 > 3/60)
andtheyarereferredtoas"lowvision".
Popula ones matesandWHORegions
Popula onsizeandstructurearebasedonthecur
rent popula on tabula on of WHO according to World
Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.
1
Popula onProspects:the2008Revision,fromtheUnit
edNa onsPopula onDivision(4).
The es mates are reported for the 6 WHO regions
(h p://www.who.int/about/regions/en/index.html).
Socioeconomicdata
Sources of the indicators used are the Human
DevelopmentReport2009fromtheUnitedNa onsDe
velopment Programme (5), the World Bank Develop
mentIndicators2009(6),theOrganiza onforEconom
icCoopera onandDevelopmentPolicyBriefs2009(7),
datafromtheUnitedNa onsEconomicandSocialCom
mission for Asia and the Pacific (8), the World Health
Sta s cs2009(9)andgovernmentalsta s caldata.
Sourcesofepidemiologicaldataandinclusioncriteria
Inclusioncriteriahavebeendiscussedpreviously
(2,3,10):thestudieshavetobepopula onbased,repre
senta veofthecountryandoftheareasampled,with
samplesizeadequatetothepopula onsampled(from
1200 to 46000), sucient response rate (80% or high
er),repor ngdataforpersons,withdefini onsofvisual
impairmentinagreementwiththeonesforthisstudy.
Medlinewassearchedforpublisheddatawithno
language restric on (search terms: Visual Impairment,
Blindness, Prevalence, country and con nent names;
lastsearchonJune30th,2010);studiesweresearchedin
the WHO regional databases (www.who.int/library/
databases/en); unpublished data available to WHO/
PBDwerealsousedifsa sfyingtheinclusioncriteria.
Es matesofprevalence
The prevalence of visual impairment and blind
nessweredeterminedforthe6WHOregionsforthree
agegroups:0to14years,15to49yearsand50years
and older, non disaggregated by gender. These age
groups are consistent with the available data sources
and with the grouping used in WHO for similar es
matesofprevalence.Smalleragegroupswerenotcon
sidered since data given in the studies are adjusted by
sample composi on only for larger age groups and
smalleragegroupswouldhavemuchhigheruncertain
es.Genderstra fica onwasnota emptedgiventhe
inconsistencies of the data within Regions and coun
tries,theuncertain esinthegenderstra fica oncould
leadtoevenhigheruncertain esatgloballevel.
Es matesofprevalencefortheagegroup0to14
and15to49yearswerecalculatedapplyingtotheac
tualpopula onsizeandstructuretheprevalencefrom
themostrecentes matesbyWHO(2,3)thatwerecon
sidereds llvalid.Theregionalprevalencewasobtained
frompopula onbasedstudiesfromcountrieswithdata
and imputed es mates for countries missing data. The
imputa onprocesswasbasedonamodelthatu lized
threeparameters,GDPpercapitain2007measuredin
PurchasingPowerParity(PPP)(6),WorldBankclassifi

ca on of Economies (Low Income, Lower Middle In
come,UpperMiddleIncome,HighIncome)(6)andprev
alenceofblindnessintheagegroup50yearsandolder,
chosenbecauseofthemanystudiesavailable,aconse
quenceoftheprevailinguseofrapidassessmentsurvey
protocolsfocusedonthisagegroup.Sinceprevalenceof
blindnessandvisualimpairmentwerestronglycorrelat
ed with each other, only prevalence of blindness was
selectedastheparameter.Thecorrela onbetweenPPP
and prevalence of blindness was consistently strong in
allregions,withcoecients>0.8,othersocioeconomic
(5,7,8)orhealthindicators(9)weretestedandshowed
onlyweakcorrela ons(0.5orless).IneachWHOregion
the countries were clustered into ranges of PPP and
World Bank Classifica on of Economies (6). A weighted
prevalence of visual impairment and blindness was cal
culatedforcountrieswithdatawithinaPPPclusterand
imputed to the other countries in the same cluster. A
discussionofmethodsformissingdatacanbefoundin
reference11.
Es matesofcausesofvisualimpairment
Fortheagegroups0to14and15to49yearsthe
causesofvisualimpairmentarebasedonpreviouses
mates (2,3) For the age group 50 years and older the
causeswerecalculatedusingthecausala ribu onpro
vided by the studies that were used to es mated the
prevalence. Each cause was calculated as an average
percentageofthetotalcausesatregionallevelfirstand
thenatgloballevel,byincludingalltheregionalvalues.
Erroranalysis
Since only simple imputa on using deduc ve
methods was used and no regression analysis was con
ducted, the known errors on the regional es mates
come from the reported uncertain es of the studies,
which for theagegroup50years and older are around
10%,fortheotheragesaround20%.
Addi onal uncertain es are due to data imputa
on:thesecanbeassumedtobelowerinregionswith
morenumerousstudies.
RESULTS
Datasources
53 surveysfromthe39countries,listedinTable
1, met the inclusion criteria for this study: details are
foundinAnnex1and2.Themajorityofthestudies,38,
took place between 2005 and 2008, 15 between 2001
and2004;.thelargestmajoritywererapidassessments
of cataract surgical services or of avoidable blindness
(12, 13), a minority were na onal studies for all ages,
someweretarge ngspecificagegroupsorse ngs.
Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.
2
Otherstudiesnotsa sfyingfullytheinclusioncriteriaprovid
ed suppor ng evidence for the es mates developed by the
model.
WHO Region Countries with studies
Botswana, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria,
African Region Rwanda, Uganda, United Republic Of
Tanzania
Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Cuba, Dominican
Region of the Americas
Republic, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay,
Peru, Venezuela
Eastern Mediterranean Islamic Republic of Iran, Oman, Pakistan,
Region Qatar
European Region Russian Federation, Turkmenistan
Bangladesh, Democratic Republic of
South-East Asian Re- Timor-Leste, India, Indonesia, Myanmar,
gion Nepal
Cambodia, China, Papua New Guinea,
Western Pacific Region Philippines, Viet Nam
ModelofvisualimpairmentinthesixWHORegions
Visualimpairmentwases matedineachWHORegion
with a model built using prevalence of blindness and coun
tries' economic status from available data as described in
Methods.
TheAfricanRegioncomprises46countriesofwhich40
areclassifiedbytheWorldBankeitherasLowIncome(LI)or
Lower Middle Income (LMI) within a narrow range of PPP,
represen ng 93.2 % of the popula on in the Region. Five
countries are classified as Upper Middle Income (UMI) and
oneasHighIncome(HI)represen ng6.8%oftheregionpop
ula on. 19 surveys from 12 countries, all classified as LI or
LMI,wereavailableforinclusioninthemodelfortheregion.
Given the similar economic status of these countries they
were considered as a single cluster of PPP. The weighted
prevalence of visual impairment and blindness from the 19
surveyswasimputedtothewholeRegion.
In the Region of the Americas the 36 countries were
dividedintothreeclustersofPPPcorrespondingtotheWorld
Bank classifica ons: LMI (10 countries), UMI (20 countries) ,
HI(6countries).Datawereavailablefromthreecountriesin
theLMIcluster,andsevenintheUMIcluster.Thecombined
popula oninthe10countrieswithavailabledataintheLMI
andUMIclustersrepresented80%ofthetotalpopula onin
these 30 countries. The weighted average of the prevalence
ofvisualimpairmentandblindnesswasderivedseparatelyin
the two clusters and imputed to the other countries in the

same cluster. Recent data sa sfying the in
60
clusioncriteriaforthisstudyfortheHIclus
ter were not available: prevalence was de
rivedfrompreviousWHOes mates(2,3).
50
The21countriesintheEasternMedi
terraneanRegionweresortedintotwoclus 40
ters of PPP. The first included 13 countries
classified as LI and LMI, the second 8 coun
tries classified as UMI and HI. Data from 30
three countries in the LI/LMI cluster and
fromoneintheUMI/HIclusterwereavaila 20
blefores mates.
In the European Region three eco
10 7.3
nomic clusters were defined, one including
3.5
25 HI countries, a second, 11 UMI countries
andthethird,14LMIand3LIcountries.Data 0
wereavailablefromonecountryeachinthe AFR AMR
UMI and in the LMI /LI clusters. The data
Blind per million population Low Vision per million population Visually impaired per million population
from a single country were imputed to the
UMI cluster and analogously data from a
single country to the LMI/ LI cluster. Recent data for this Causeofvisualimpairment
study were not available for the HI cluster and previous
WHOes mateswereused(2,3).
Thees matesfor theSouthEastAsianRegionwere
derivedforIndiaandfortheothercountriesintheRegion
separately. The prevalence for India was derived from 3
recentsurveys(seeAnnex1and2).Theother10countries
intheRegionareclassifiedeitherasLMIorLIandgiventhe
similarityofPPPwereallincludedinonesinglecluster.Data
wereavailablefrom5ofthe10countriescomprisingalmost
80% of the popula on in the region (India excluded). The
weighted prevalence es mated from the data in the five
countrieswasimputedtothewholecluster.
The es mates for China were derived separately
fromtheothercountriesintheWesternPacificRegionand
werebasedonrecentsurveysconductedintheruralareas
combined with data from urban se ngs (see Annex 1 and
2). The other countries in the Region were sorted into 3
clusters: the first included 7 countries classified as HI and
oneasUMI;thesecondincludedall15PacificIslandswith
14countriesclassifiedasLMIandoneUMI;thethirdcom
prised 4 countries, 2 classified as LI and 2 as LMI. For the
firstclusterprevalencewasderivedfromthepreviouses
mates (2,3). Data from one country were used for the se
condclusteranddatafrom3countriesforthethirdcluster
(seeAnnex1and2).
GlobalPrevalenceofVisualImpairment
Thees matednumberofpeoplevisuallyimpairedin
the world is 285 million, 39 million blind and 246 million
havinglowvision;65%ofpeoplevisuallyimpairedand82%
ofallblindare50yearsandolder(Table2).Thedistribu on
ofpeoplevisuallyimpairedinthesixWHORegionsisshown
in Table 3 with the percentage of the global impairment
shown in parentheses.Figure 1 shows the number ofpeo
ple visually impaired, with low vision and blind per million
popula on in the six WHO Regions and in India and China
separately.
Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.
3
Numberofpeople(inthousands)blind,withlowvisionandvisuallyimpairedpermillionpopulation
55.4
53
49.3
48.2
46.2
43.3
40.5
33.3
32.7 32 31.7
29.1 28.7
28
25.4 25.6
8.5
6.9 6.8
5.3 6.1
3
EMR EUR SEAR-India WPR-China India China
Globallytheprincipalcausesofvisualimpairmentare
uncorrected refrac ve errors and cataracts, 43% and 33 %
respec vely. Other causes are glaucoma, 2%, age related
maculardegenera on(AMD),diabe cre nopathy,trachoma
and corneal opaci es, all about 1%. A large propor on of
causes,18%,areundetermined,(Figure2A).
The causes ofblindness arecataract, 51%, glaucoma,
8%, AMD, 5%, childhood blindness and corneal opaci es,
4%, uncorrected refrac ve errors and trachoma, 3%, and
diabe c re nopathy 1%, the undetermined causes are 21%
(Figure2B).
DISCUSSION
Thisstudypresentssomelimita ons,themostsignifi
cantarethefollowing:thesurveysinthelast10yearshave
beenmostlyRapidAssessmentsforages50yearsandolder,
and na onal studies for all ages with or without WHO Eye
SurveyProtocolhavebeenfew.Asaconsequencedatacould
be limited in representa on of countries and of ages. The
imputa on of prevalence for missing data can give errors
that are dicult to es mate: clearly they could be high in
regions with sparse data. In the EasternMediterranean Re
gionrecentdatawereunavailableformostofthecountries,
hence the es mates were in large extent based on surveys
from19931998(2,3)DatafromHIcountrieswerealsomiss
ingorweredatedasfarbackas15years.Howeveritmust
be noted that in HI countries from available informa on
therewasnoevidenceofmajorchangesinprevalence.
Thecombinedeectoftheseuncertain esispossibly
anoverorunderes ma onofvisualimpairmentandblind
nessofapproximately20%.
Thea ribu onofthecausesofvisualimpairmentand
blindness is also prone to uncertainty. This is o en the in
stance in surveys carried out in the field with limited
diagnos c capacity, but it is par cularly true in the case of
 4

rapid assessments whose aim is primarilyto surveycataract

surgicalservicesforages40or50yearsandolder.Thelarge
percentagesofundeterminedcausesisarealsolikelytobea
reflec onoftheseprotocols.
Thestrengthsofthees matesderivefirstlyfromthe
factthatnewdatawereavailabletoreplacepreviousextrap
ola ons. Furthermore, to es mate the prevalence of visual
impairment in countries missing data, a model was used
based on the same economic parameters for all countries.
This is a new approach in producing es mates of visual im
pairment.Theimputa onprocessviaamodelismoretrans
parent than using expert assump ons and it provides con
sistency between countries and regions. It also allows for
adjustmentsandcorrec onsassoonasnewinforma onbe
comes available and it could also be adapted for es ma ng
trends.
Because data available and methods used have
changed, it is not possible to draw conclusions from dier
ences in present es mates and previously published es
mates. In areas where surveys were repeated with similar
protocols for ages 50 years and older a reduc on of visual
impairment is shown despite the rapid growth of this age
group.Thisdeclinefitswithincreasedsocioeconomicdevel
opment,butitisalsothedirectconsequenceofinvestments
madebyGovernmentsandofinterven onsbyinterna onal
partners.
Posteriorsegment(re nal)diseasesareamajorcause
of visual impairment worldwide, and likely to become more
andmoreimportant,withtherapidgrowthoftheagingpop
ula on . The propor on of the total visual impairment and
blindness from age related macular degenera on,glaucoma
anddiabe cre nopathyiscurrentlygreaterthanfrominfec
vecausessuchastrachomaandcornealopaci es.
Thisrequirestheurgentdevelopmentofeyecaresys
tems that address chronic eye diseases with rehabilita on,
educa onandsupportservices.
2004;82:844851.
3ResnikoS,PascoliniD,Mario SP,etal.Globalmagni
tudeofvisualimpairmentcausedbyuncorrectedrefrac on
errorsin2004.BullWorldHealthOrgan2008;86:63:70.
4 United Na ons, Department of Economic and Social
Aairs, Popula on Division, World popula on Prospects:
the2008Revision.NewYork2009(advanceExceltables).
5UnitedNa onsDevelopmentProgramme.HumanDevel
opment Report 2009. h p://hdr.undp.org/hdr2009. date
accessedMarch1st,2010.
6World Bank. World Bank list of economies (July 2009)
h p://siteresources.worldbank.org/DATASTATISTICS/
Resources/ClASS.xls.dateaccessedMarch15,2010.
7Organisa on for Economic Coopera on and Develop
ment. Policy Briefs available at h p://www.oecd.org/
publica ons/Policybriefs.dateaccessedMay1,2010.
8 United Na ons Economic and Social Commission for
AsianandthePacific.SocialPolicyandPopula onDivision.
h p://www.unescap.org/estd/psis/popula on. date ac
cessedMay15,2010.
9WorldHealthOrganiza on.WorldHealthSta s cs2009.
Geneva:WHO2009.
10PascoliniD,Mario SP,PokharelGP,etal.2002Global
update of available data on visual impairment: a compila
on of popula onbased prevalence studies. Ophthalmic
Epidemiol2004;11:67115.
11 Interna onal Labour Organiza on Employment Trends
Units.TrendsEconometricModels:AreviewofMethodolo
gy.2009ILOworkingpaper.Geneva.
12 Limburg H, Kumar R, Indrayan A, et al. Rapid assess
ment of prevalence of cataract blindness at district level.

IntJEpidemiol1997;26:014954.
CONCLUSION
13DineenB,FosterA,FaalH.Aproposedrapidmethodol
ogy to assess the prevalence of causes of blindness and
Monitoringthemagnitudeofvisualimpairmentises visualimpairment.OphthalmicEpidemiol2006;13:314.
sen al for policies aiming at the preven on and elimina on
oftheavoidablecauses.Theglobales mateshavesignificant
uncertain es that could be reduced with popula on based Fundingstatement
studiesfromregionswithlimitedorolddataandwithstudies
conductedatna onallevelforallagesrecordingallcausesof This research received no specific grant from any funding
blindness. Par cularly urgent is to determine the extent of agencyinthepublic,commercialornotforprofitsectors.
posterior segment diseases as causes of visual impairment,
since these require the development of eye care systems,
includinghumanresourcesandinfrastructures.

REFERENCES

1 Thylefors B, Ngrel AD, Pararajasegaram R, et al. Global

dataonblindness.BullWorldHealthOrgan1995;73:115121.
2 Resniko S, Pascolini D, Etya'ale D, et al. Global data on
visualimpairmentintheyear2002.BullWorldHealthOrgan

Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

 5

Table2.Globales mateofthenumberofpeoplevisually
impairedbyage,2010;forallagesinparenthesisthecorrespondingprevalence(%).

Ages Population Blind Low Vision Visually Impaired

(in years) (millions) (millions) (millions) (millions)

0-14 1,848.50 1.421 17.518 18.939

15-49 3548.2 5.784 74.463 80.248

50 and older 1,340.80 32.16 154.043 186.203

all ages 6,737.50 39.365 (0.58) 246.024 (3.65) 285.389 (4.24)

Table3.Numberofpeoplevisuallyimpairedandcorrespondingpercentage
oftheglobalimpairmentbyWHORegionandcountry,2010

Blindness Low vision Visual Impairment

Total population No. in millions No. in millions No. in millions

WHO Region
(millions) (percentage ) (percentage) (percentage)

Afr 804.9 (11.9) 5.888 (15) 20.407 (8.3) 26.295 (9.2)

Amr 915.4 (13.6) 3.211(8) 23.401 (9.5) 26.612 (9.3)
Emr 580.2 (8.6) 4.918 (12.5) 18.581 (7.6) 23.499 (8.2)
Eur 889.2 (13.2) 2.713 (7) 25.502 (10.4) 28.215 (9.9)
Sear (India excluded) 579.1 (8.6) 3.974 (10.1) 23.938 (9.7) 27.913 (9.8)
Wpr (China excluded) 442.3 (6.6) 2.338 (6) 12.386 (5) 14.724 (5.2)
India 1181.4 (17.5) 8.075 (20.5) 54.544 (22.2) 62.619 (21.9)
China 1344.9 (20) 8.248 (20.9) 67.264 (27.3) 75.512 (26.5)
World 6737.5 (100) 39.365 (100) 246.024 (100) 285.389 (100)

Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

 6

Fig.2A

GlobalcausesofVisualImpairment,inclusiveofblindness,aspercentage

undetermined, childhood, 1%
18%
DR, 1%
CO, 1% cataract, 33%
trachoma, 1%
AMD, 1%
glaucoma, 2%

RE, 42%

Fig.2B

Globalcausesofblindnessaspercentageofglobalblindnessin2010.
childhood,4%
undetermined,
21%

DR,1%

trachoma,3%

CO,4% cataract,51%

AMD,5%

glaucoma,8%

RE,3%

Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

 WHOAfrican
dateofsurvey studypopula on samplesize agegroup reference
Region
na onal
Annex1

Botswana 2006 2127 50yearsandolder BWA1

urban/ruralandrural
subna onal
Cameroon 2006 2215 40yearsandolder CMR1
urban
subna onal
Cameroon 2004 1787 40yearsandolder CMR2
ruralurban
na onal
Eritrea 2008 3163 50yearsandolder ERI1
urbanandrural
na onal
Ethiopia 2005 25650 allages ETH1
urbanandrural
Gambia 2007 na onal 2992 50yearsandolder GMB1

Ghana 2001 subna onal 2289 40yearsandolder GHA1

subna onal
Ghana 2005 9117 40yearsandolder GHA2
rural
subna onal
Kenya 2005 3475 50yearsandolder KEN1
rural
subna onal
Kenya 2007 3376 50yearsandolder KEN2
rural
subna onal
Kenya 2007 2419 50yearsandolder KEN3
urban
Mali 2008 subna onal 2438 50yearsandolder MLI1
na onal 10to15years
Nigeria 2008 13593 NGA1
urbanandrural 40yearsandolder
subna onal
Nigeria 2006 2424 50yearsandolder NGA2
urbanandrural
subna onal
Rwanda 2006 2006 50yearsandolder RWA1
rural
Uganda 2007 subna onal 3294 50yearsandolder UGA1
subna onal
URTanzania 2007 3202 50yearsandolder TZA1
rural
subna onal
URTanzania 2007 3463 50yearsandolder TZA2
rural
subna onal
7

URTanzania 2007 3160 50yearsandolder TZA3

Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

urbanandrural
 WHORegion
dateofsurvey studypopula on samplesize agegroup reference
oftheAmericas
subna onal
Argen na 2004 4302 50yearsandolder ARG1
periurban
subna onal
Brazil 2004 2224 50yearsandolder BRA1
urban
subna onal
Chile 2006 2915 50yearsandolder CHL1
urbanandrural
subna onal
Cuba 2005 2716 50yearsandolder CUB1
periurban
na onal
DominicanRepublic 2008 3873 50yearsandolder DOM1
urbanandrural
subna onal
Guatemala 2004 4806 50yearsandolder GTM1
urbanandrural
subna onal
Mexico 2006 3764 50yearsandolder MEX1
rural
na onal
Paraguay 2002 2136 50yearsandolder PRY1
urbanandrural
subna onal
Peru 2002 4782 50yearsandolder PER1
rural
na onal
Venezuela 2005 3317 50yearsandolder VEN1
urbanandrural
WHOEastern
dateofsurvey studypopula on samplesize agegroup reference
MediterraneanRegion
subna onal
Iran(IslamicRepublicof) 2005 5456 10yearsandolder IRN1
urbanandrural
na onal
Oman 2005 2339 40yearandolder OMN1
urbanandrural
na onal
Pakistan 2004 16507 30yearsandolder PAK1
urbanandrural
urban QAT1
Qatar 2008 2433 50yearsandolder
periurban
WHOEuropeanRegion dateofsurvey studypopula on samplesize agegroup reference
subna onal
RussianFedera on 2008 3837 50yearsandolder RUS1
periurban
subna onal
8

Turkmenistan 2001 6011 50yearsandolder TKM1

urban/rural

Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

 WHOSouthEastAsian
dateofsurvey studypopula on samplesize agegroup reference
Region
subna onal
Bangladesh 2005 4868 50yearsandolder BGD1
rural
Democra cRepublicof subna onal
2005 1414 40yearsandolder TLS1
TimorLester urbanandrural
na onal
India 2007 40447 50yearsandolder IND1
urbanandrural
subna onal
India 2003 7084 50yearsandolder IND2
urbanandrural
subna onal 5to15years
India 2006 13016 IND3
urbanandrural 50yearsandolder
subna onal
Indonesia 2004 2629 50yearsandolder IDN1
rural
subna onal
Myanmar 2005 2076 40yearsandolder MMR1
rural
subna onal
Myanmar 2003 2885 50yearsandolder MMR2
rural
subna onal
Myanmar 2003 2990 50yearsandolder MMR3
rural
subna onal
Nepal 2002 5002 45yearsandolder NPL1
rural
subna onal
Nepal 2005 5138 50yearsandolder NPL2
rural
WHOWesternPacific
dateofsurvey studypopula on samplesize agegroup reference
Region
na onal
Cambodia 2007 5902 50yearsandolder KHM1
urbanandrural
subna onal
China 2007 45747 50yearsandolder CHN1
rural
subna onal
China 2003 3040 60yearsandolder CHN2
urbanandperiurban
subna onal
PapuaNewGuinea 2005 1174 50yearsandolder PNG1
urbanandrural
subna onal
Philippines 2006 5951 50yearsandolder PHL1
9

urbanandrural

Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

 WHOWesternPacific
dateofsurvey studypopula on samplesize agegroup reference
Region
na onal
VietNam 2007 28073 50yearsandolder VNM1
urbanandrural
na onal
VietNam 2007 28800 0to15years VNM1
urbanandrural
10

Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

 11

WHOAfricanRegion

NikomazanaO.Na onalprevalencesurveyofvisualimpairmentinBotswana.Submi edforMScCommunityEye

BWA1
HealthattheLondonSchoolofHygieneandTropicalMedicine.London2006.
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ERI1
da on,1MitchellStreet,EnfieldNSW2136,Australia
Na onalsurveyonblindness,lowvisionandtrachomainEthiopia.FederalMOHofEthiopia,TheCarterCenter,
ETH1 CBM,ITI,ORBISInt.EthiopiaandLfW,OpthalmolSocietyofEthiopia,EthiopianPublicHealthAssocia on.Addis
Ababa,Ethiopia2006.SurveyreportpreparedbyYemaneBerhane,AlemayehuWorku,AbebeBejiga.
Department of State for Health and Social Welfare, The Gambia, Interna onal Centre for Eye Health, London
GMB1 SchoolofHygieneandTropicalMedicine,London,UK,SightsaversInterna onal.Rapidassessmentofavoidable
blindnessinTheGambia.2008.unpublishedreport.
GuzekJP,AnyomiFK,FiadoyorS,etal.Prevalenceofblindnessinpeopleover40yearsintheVoltaregionofGha
GHA1
na.GhanaMedicalJ2005;39:5562.
AhorsuF,HaganM,WanyeS,etal.Prevalenceofblindnessandvisualimpairmentamongpeopleaged40years
GHA2
andaboveinthreedistrictsintheNorthernRegionofGhana.2005.unpublishedreport.
MathengeW,KuperH,LimburgH,etal.RapidassessmentofavoidableblindnessinNakuruDistrict,Kenya.Oph
KEN1
thalmology2007;114:599605.
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KEN2
EastAfrJOphthalmol2008;13:1925.
RapidassessmentofavoidableblindnessinKericho,GreatRi Valley,Kenya.2007;unpublishedreportfromP.
KEN3
Huguet.
TraorL,OyJ.Apprcia onrapidedelaccitvitabledanslargiondeKoulikoroauMalien2008.personal
MLI1
communica on.
Kyari F, VSG Murthy, Sivsubramaniam S, et al. Prevalence of blindness and visual impairment in Nigeria: the
NGA1
na onalblindnessandvisualimpairmentsurvey.InvestOphthalmolVisSci2009;50:20332039.
RabiuMM,MuhammedN.RapidassessmentofcataractsurgicalservicesinBirninKebbiLocalGovernmentArea
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ofKebbiState,Nigeria.OphtahlmicEpidemiology200815:359365.
MathengeW,NkurikiyeJ,LimburgH,etal.RapidassessmentofavoidableblindnessinWesternRwanda:blind
RWA1
nessinapostconflictse ng.PLoSMedicine2007;4:11871193.
Rapid assessment of cataract surgical services in Kyela, United Republic of Tanzania. 2007; unpublished report
TZA1
fromP.Huguet.
HabiyakireC,KabonaG,CourtrightP,etal.Rapidassessmentofavoidableblindnessandcataractsurgicalservices
TZA2
inKilimanjaroregionTanzania.OphthalmicEpidemiology.2010;17:9094.
KikiraS.RapidAssessmentofavoidableblindnessinZanzibar.Submi edforMScCommunityEyeHealthatthe
TZA3
LondonSchoolofHygieneandTropicalMedicine.London2007.
UGA1 RapidassessmentofcataractsurgicalservicesinMassaka,Uganda.2007;unpublishedreportfromP.Huguet.

Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

 12
WHORegionoftheAmericas

Nano MG, Nano HD, Mugica JM, et al. Rapid assessment of visual impairment due to cataract and cataract
ARG1
surgicalservicesinurbanArgen na.OphthalmicEpidemiol2006;13:191197.
ArietaC.ResultsofrapidassessmentofcataractsurgicalservicesinCampinas,Brazil,2003.UniversityofCampi
BRA1
nasOphthalmicDepartment.Unpublishedreport.
Maul E, Barrosa S, Munoz SR, et al. Refrac ve error study in children: results from La Florida, Chile. Am J

Ophthalmol2000;129:445454.
BarriaF,SilvaJC,LimburgH,etal.Analisisdelaprevalenciadecegueraysuscausasmedianteencuestarapida
CHL1
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Hernandez Silva JR, Rio Torres M, Padilla Gonzalez CM. Resultados del RACSS en Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba,
CUB1
2005.RevCubanaO almol2006;19:19.
Consejo Nacional para la Prevencin de la Ceguera. Encuesta nacional de ciegos. Republica Dominicana 2008.
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Beltranena F, Casasola K, Silva JC, et al. Cataract blindness in 4 regions of Guatemala. Ophthalmology
GTM1
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MEX1 RapidassessmentofavoidableblindnessinNuevoLeonState,Mexico.2006.unpublishedreportfromLimburgH
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PRY1
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WHOEasternMediterraneanRegion
HosseinAli Shahriari, Shahrokh Izadi, MohammadReza Rouhani, et al. Prevalence and causes of visual impair
IRN1 ment and blindness in SistanvaBaluchestan Province, Iran: Zahedan Eye Study. Br J Ophthalmol 2007;91:579
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KhandekarR,MohammedAJ,RaisiAA.Prevalenceandcausesofblindnessandlowvision;beforeandfiveyears
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WHOEuropeanRegion

RUS1 BranchevskiyS.RapidassessmentofavoidableblindnessinSamara.2009;personalcommunica on.

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Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

 13
WHOSouthEastAsianRegion
BGD1 WadudZ,KuperH,PolackS,etal.RapidassessmentofcataractsurgicalservicesinSathkhiraDistrict,Bangla
desh.BrJOphthalmol2006;90:12251229.
TLS1 RamkeJ,PalagyiA,NaduvilathT,etal.PrevalenceandcausesofblindnessandlowvisioninTimorLeste.BrJ
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IND1 NeenaJ,RachelJ,PraveenV,etal.fortheRAABIndiaStudyGroup.RapidAssessmentofAvoidableBlindnessin
India.PlosOne,2008,3:e2867.
IND2 Na onalProgrammefortheControlofBlindness.RapidassessmentofblindnessinNorthEasternStatesofIndia
2003.Ophthalmology/BlindnessControlSec on,DirectorateGeneralofHealthServices,MinistryofHealthand
FamilyWelfare,GovernmentofIndia,NewDelhi,110011India.
IND3 Na onalProgrammefortheControlofBlindness.Surveyofchildhoodblindnessandvisualimpairment(Gujarat
andWesBengal).Rapidassessmentofblindnessin50+popula on(Bharuch,Gujarat).2006.Ophthalmology/
BlindnessControlSec on,DirectorateGeneralofHealthServices,MinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare,Govern
mentofIndia,NewDelhi,110011India.
IDN1 RapidassessmentofcataractsurgicalservicesinLombok,Indonesia.2004;unpublishedreportfromP.Huguet.
MMR1 CassonRJ,NewlandHS,MueckeJ,etal.PrevalenceandcausesofviusalimpairmentinruralMyanmar:theMeik
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MMR3 LimburgH,MaungN,KhinAyeSoe,etal.Studyreportonrapidassessmentofcataractsurgicalservicesin
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WHOWesternPacificRegion
KHM1 RapidassessmentofavoidableblindnessprograminCambodia.2007.unpublishedreport(contact:Dr.DoSeiha)
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Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

 14

Correspondenceto:SilvioP.Mario ,WorldHealthOrganiza on,20AvenueAppia,1211Geneva27,Switzerland.

 WHO/NMH/PBD/12.01

GLOBAL DATA ON
VISUAL IMPAIRMENTS
2010

Silvio_3.indd 1 2012-07-25 09:17:08