About Visual Impairment

_______________________________________________________________________________
People who are visually impaired do not see well enough to perform everyday tasks, even with the aid of glasses, contact lenses, medicine or surgery.

Blindness, the most severe form of visual impairment, deprives people the ability to move about unaided.

Most forms of visual impairment and blindness can be avoided or can be readily treated or cured with well known and inexpensive measures.

The four levels of visual function are:

1. Normal vision
2. Moderate visual impairment
3. Severe visual impairment.
4. Blindness

Both moderate and severe visual functions are considered low vision. Low vision and blindness are  classified as visual impairment.

Persons At Risk- Persons at risk are those living in developing countries,  age 50 and over and children under 15.

The main causes of visual impairment are cataract, glaucoma, myopia and astigmatism.

Prevention is important and effective in reducing the number of persons with visual impairment, 80% of cases are preventable. Some reasons for the progress made in prevention are:

• Raising awareness on a global level
• Expanding eye services to include primary and secondary healthcare systems
• More programs on a national level to prevent and control visual impairment
• Early diagnosis of diseases that cause visual impairment
• Patient education that aims to prevent visual impairment

This fact file  from World Health Organization highlights figures for blindness and visual impairment
Read the fact sheet