Abstract

Objective
The main objective of the study was to determine and identify the awareness of primary eye care
in community .

Materials and Method

A questionnaire based cross sectional survey was conducted which included selection of research
site, target population, sample size (194 people), sampling method, research methodology and
work plan.

Results
Knowledge and level of awareness reported to be average among the community.The chief
determinants for average level of awareness about primary eye care limited source of
information and lack of access to ophthalmic care services. 194 participants were enrolled in the
study among which 48.9% were male respondents and 52.2% female respondents. Overall 58.9%
participants showed awareness about primary eye care.

Conclusions
There is an average awareness of primary eye care in community and those found in this study
are somehow justified, but it is the time to aware community about primary eye care and eye care
services. There should be an extra module for community mentioned in my study for community
based awarness and there must be awarness through social media,newspaper so they would be
able to have knowledge about primary eye care as a citizen .

Keywords
Optometry, Primary eye care, Awareness.

Introduction
Vision and eye health are vital for everyone. The ability to see and see clearly affects school
performance, productivity at work, and the quality of life in general. Maintenance of visual
acuity and good visual system as part of good health in general is growing in priority to public
community and health care. Eye diseases and vision problems are elements in four of the five
major public health problems recently described by the National Institutes of Health.

Blindness and visual impairment are the major problems worldwide. People living in rural areas
have low socioeconomic status and do not have enough eye care services due to non-availability,
non-accessibility and non-affordability of such services. Failure and poor accessibility of eye
care services has been declared in the rural areas of many countries as Jamaica 1 Latin America
and the Caribbean2, South Africa3, Nigeria4 and India5. Studies in Timor-Leste6, found that
deficiency of knowledge about available services and limited knowledge about eye problems
negatively affected the use of eye care.

The need for optometric attention is long lasting. Among children, eye exams are crucial to avoid
visual and neural permanent disabilities; however, a recent study found that only 14% of children
less than 6 years have had an eye examination. Over 60% of Americans wear glasses or contact
lenses, and adults have greater needs for eye care as they age. As the public has become more
aware of the importance of eye care, employers have expanded their insurance benefits plans to
include more eye care.

The American Optometric Association defines optometrists as:

"Providers of primary health care, which independent examine, diagnose, treat and control
diseases and disorders of the visual system. Optometrists examine the internal and external
structure of the eye, diagnose eye diseases such as glaucoma, cataracts and retinal disorders;
systemic diseases such as hypertension and diabetes; and vision conditions such as
nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism and presbyopia, prescribing vision aids, vision
therapy and medications to treat eye diseases "7

Visual acuity plays a vital role in everyday life. Impaired vision can affect the daily activities of
a person. Visual impairment is a major health problem worldwide.8
The World Health Organization (WHO), in its latest version global statistics revealed that there
are 37 million blind people, including 1.4 million children under 15 and 125 million people with
a severely altered vision, which it is resulting in a total of over 160 million people with visual
disabilities. In addition, visual impairment due to uncorrected refractive error has been estimated
to affect 200 to 250,000 people. Refractive errors remain a formidable challenge that needs to be
addressed. Due to increased risk factors, diabetic retinopathy and glaucoma are also emerging as
important conditions that need to be addressed at all levels of health care. Eye care primary level
aims to provide affordable services to all, regardless of socio-economic capacities of individuals.
Primary eye care refers largely to a combination of activities covering the promotion, prevention,
treatment and rehabilitation delivered at the community level to avoid serious consequences
resulting in blindness and visual impairment remains a problem. 9 Blindness and visual deficiency
continues to be a main public health problem in India. Availability and easy access to primary
eye care is essential for the elimination of avoidable blindness.10

Discussion
This study conducted on the awareness of primary eye care . The sample size concluded by a
specially designed formula came out to be 194 for this study.The study was carried out among
the community. The study was carried out by providing a questionnaire to the participants that
was translated to the individuals understanding language. The study was done in order to
evaluate the level of awareness and understanding about primary eye care. Among 194 subjects
enrolled 52% were females and 48.8% were males.
The outcome of this survey may help provide recommendations for improving awareness
campaigns for Primary eye care and optometry.13 Awareness of Primary eye care can play an
important role in encouraging people to seek timely eye care and reduce the burden of their
visual impairment.As we can see about 55.7% students were aware about primary eye care and
44.3 were unaware. 14As I have explained in my literature review that according to a study it
was found that glaucoma patients show poor follow-up due to low literacy rate. .All the
Questions included in this study had p=.0001 which means they have a highly significant effect
on my study. 15