Avoidable blindness: a review on its leading causes worldwide / Cegueira evitável: uma revisão sobre suas principais causas no mundo
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34119/bjhrv5n2-313Keywords:
blindness, cataract, glaucoma, trachoma, onchocerciasis.Abstract
Globally, blindness affects more than 7 billion people. In addition to impacting quality of life, it doubles the risk of mortality and has a significant impact on the economy, both in developed and developing countries. However, at least two-thirds of the causes of this onerous outcome are preventable. Blindness can be avoided in two forms: prevention or treatment of its etiologies. Cataract or glaucoma, for instance, are not preventable diseases, but if they are treated, blindness is prevented or reversed. Given these facts, the relevance of establishing blindness prevention strategies is evident, as they effectively are capable of transforming the situation. This article addresses the subject of avoidable blindness reviewing its leading causes worldwide, in addition to presenting a cause that has exemplary been eliminated from one country. Against the expected, the number of blind people has been increasing globally in the last decades, which is hypothesized to be related with the increase in life expectancy. Undoubtedly, an accurate knowledge dissemination of the main causes of blindness to the population, associated with investment in affordable diagnostic and surgical technology must be driven by and put into practice by governments and scientific organizations in order to reduce such large and growing numbers of this avoidable outcome.
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