Definition of Blindness as defined by National Program for Control of

Blindness (NPCB):

 Inability of a person to count fingers from a distance of 3 meters

(technical definition).
 Vision 3/60 (20/400)  in the better eye with the best possible spectacle
correction.
 The definition was changed from  earlier definition of blindness (visual
acuity of greater than 6/60) used by NPCB so as to bring in accordance
with definition of blindness used by WHO for global comparison and
achieve the WHO goal of reducing the blindness prevalence of India to
0.3 per cent of the total population by 2020.

Some Facts about Blindness:

 Approximately 253 million people are partially sighted worldwide. About

90% of the world's visually impaired live in developing countries.
 Over 36 million people are blind. Unfortunately, around 15 million are
from India and India is home to the world's largest number of blind.
 Around 55% of the visually impaired people are women.
 80% of blindness is avoidable (preventable and/or treatable) with proper
medical care and regular eye examinations. A major proportion of
population in India have poor access to eye care facilities . For example,
uncorrected refractive error can be corrected with glasses while cataract
surgery can restore vision. Vision rehabilitation programs are also
effective in improving functioning for people with an irreversible vision
impairment. Good quality rehabilitation allows people with different
degrees of visual impairment to fully profit from life, achieve their goals
and be active and productive in today’s society.
 In India cataract has been reported to be responsible for 50-80% cases
of blind in the country which are treatable with surgery. Refractive
errors and Glaucoma are other major causes of blindness. Organizations
like the World Health Organization along with the government of India
are working to eliminate causes of avoidable blindness in developing
countries. Surveys over the years have shown considerable reduction in
 the rate of preventable blindness, yet there is a lot that needs to be
done.
 The backlog for cataract surgeries continues to remain a big challenge
and is primarily because of the non-availability of human resources. Our
country has an acute shortage of doctors for correcting eye disabilities.
There are approximately 12,000 ophthalmologists in India for its 1.3
billion population, resulting in a ratio of one ophthalmologist for every
one lakh people largely because of regulation issues and a lack of
training programs.
 Vision 2020 “Right to Sight” was launched as a collaborative movement
by World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Agency for
Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) [representing governments and non-
governmental organisations] in Geneva on February 18, 1999 with the
goal of eliminating avoidable blindness by 2020.Some bold strides
towards the achievement of the VISION 2020 have been made but
technology and infrastructure, still continue to hinder the full realisation
of the programme.