Causes of blindness and visual impairment

In spite of the progress made in surgical techniques in many countries during the last ten years, cataract (47.9%) remains the leading cause of visual impairment in all areas of the world, except for developed countries.

Other main causes of visual impairment in 2002 are glaucoma (12.3%), age-related macular degeneration (AMD) (8.7%), corneal opacities (5.1%), diabetic retinopathy (4.8%), childhood blindness (3.9%), trachoma (3.6%), and onchocerciasis (0.8%). The causes of avoidable visual impairment world wide are all the above except for AMD. In the least-developed countries, and in particular Sub-Saharan Africa, the causes of avoidable blindness are primarily, cataract (50%), glaucoma (15%), corneal opacities (10%), trachoma (6.8%), childhood blindness (5.3%) and onchocerciasis (4%).

Looking at the global distribution of avoidable blindness based on the population in each of the WHO regions, we see the following: South East Asian 28%, Western Pacific 26%, African 16.6%, Eastern Mediterranean 10%, the American 9.6%, and European 9.6%.

In addition to uncorrected refractive errors, these six diseases or groups of diseases which have effective known strategies for their elimination, make up the targets of the WHO Global Initiative to Eliminate Avoidable Blindness, "VISION 2020: The Right to Sight", which aims to eliminate these causes as a public health problem by the year 2020. Cataract, onchocerciasis, and trachoma are the principal diseases for which world strategies and programmes have been developed. For glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, uncorrected refractive errors, and childhood blindness (except for xerophthalmia), the development of screening and management strategies for use at the primary care level is ongoing at WHO.

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In general, These projects reach populations who are underserved or who have limited or no access to eye health care services. The program funds high-quality, sustainable projects that deliver eye care services, develop infrastructure, train personnel and/or provide rehabilitation and education in underserved communities.
You could start Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiatives for your Company in association with us. Such healthcare projects will make CSR contribution targeted, making them simple to execute as turnkey CSR projects. ‘Promoting healthcare’ is an area identified under schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 that is eligible to receive CSR funding either directly or through an implementing agency that has a track record.

For CSR partnership,
Write to – support@trinitycarefoundation.org  or
Call Dr. Thomas +91 9880394959 or Mr.Binu +91 9880358888

Trinity Care Foundation executed CSR Projects : http://trinitycarefoundation.org/csrprogrammesindia  & https://www.flickr.com/photos/trinitycarefoundation/albums

Uncorrected refractive error

The Problem

Refractive errors occur when the eye is unable to properly focus images on the retina, resulting in blurred vision. These are due to myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), astigmatism and presbyopia. When refractive errors are left uncorrected or when the correction is inadequate, they can cause severe visual impairment and even blindness. Refractive errors may not be addressed for a variety of reasons, including a lack of awareness or recognition by the individual or family, limited availability or affordability of refractive services and glasses and cultural stigmas that discourage the use of glasses.

Global Impact
Uncorrected refractive error is responsible for 43 percent of global vision impairment, with 5 million people having gone blind. Half of all cases of refractive error go undetected and untreated. This lack of treatment makes uncorrected refractive error the leading cause of blindness in children and adolescents. Due to uncorrected refractive error, the more than 12 million visually-impaired children ages 5 to 15 also suffer critical setbacks in development since learning is often visually-based.

Treatment
Refractive errors can be easily corrected with glasses or other refractive interventions. Treatment is cost-effective, has a significant impact on quality of life and can prevent the problem from advancing to severe impairment or blindness.

Trinity Care Foundation Work
With funds raised from external sources and CSR Initiatives, uncorrected refractive error has become a new program area for the Foundation in Karnataka State, India

Funding Priorities:
Trinity Care Foundation will support capacity building and the development of systems for the manufacture and distribution of new glasses and target underserved school-aged children. The following are priorities for uncorrected refractive error projects:

Focus on capacity building and the development of systems for the manufacture and distribution of new glasses rather than the provision of individual eye glasses.

• Target underserved school-aged children and other populations.
• Remain flexible in approach to adapt to each environment.
• Help develop comprehensive and sustainable eye care systems.
• Use and/or collect data to identify and evaluate projects.
• Provide high-quality eye care services.
• Engage Corporates as advocates.
• Projects should contain these elements:
• Community-based early detection and referral services
• Diagnosis and provision of glasses at eye care centers
• Follow-up and compliance

In general, These projects reach populations who are underserved or who have limited or no access to eye health care services. The program funds high-quality, sustainable projects that deliver eye care services, develop infrastructure, train personnel and/or provide rehabilitation and education in underserved communities.
You could start Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiatives for your Company in association with us. Such healthcare projects will make CSR contribution targeted, making them simple to execute as turnkey CSR projects. ‘Promoting healthcare’ is an area identified under schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 that is eligible to receive CSR funding either directly or through an implementing agency that has a track record.

For CSR partnership,
Write to – support@trinitycarefoundation.org  or
Call Dr. Thomas +91 9880394959 or Mr.Binu +91 9880358888

Trinity Care Foundation executed CSR Projects : http://trinitycarefoundation.org/csrprogrammesindia  & https://www.flickr.com/photos/trinitycarefoundation/albums