|
About 284 million people are visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 245 have low vision. About 90% of the World's visually impaired live in developing countries. Globally, uncorrected refractive errors are the main cause of visual impairment but in middle and low-income countries cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness. The number of people visually impaired from infectious diseases has greatly reduced in the last 20 years. About 80% of all visual impairment can be avoided or cured. Globally the major causes of visual impairment are:
- Uncorrected refractive errors (myopia, hyperopia or astigmatism) ~ 43 %
- Cataract ~ 33%
- Glaucoma ~ 2%
As we see from above cataract is one of the major causes of visual impairment and in rural & poor areas in India. We believe that prevention is better than cure and much cheaper than rehabilitation. To ensure this, we plan reaching out to thousands of people in slums and rural areas through Medical Camps by various Rotary Clubs in RID3080. In this project we propose to undertake free eye treatment like cataract surgery, eye check-ups and awareness generation.
| 
