State Of Visually-Impaired: ‘80% of blindness’ causes avoidable’
The number of blind people globally stands between 40 and 45 million, and is expected to rise by 2 million every years
KARACHI:
An estimated 1.5 million visually-impaired people in Pakistan cause an annual loss of Rs63 billion in lost productivity, said senior members of Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan here on Tuesday. About 80% of the prevalent causes of blindness in Pakistan, however, are either avoidable or can be helped with optical devices, the members said. The number of blind people globally stands between 40 and 45 million, and is expected to rise by 2 million every years to 54 million by the year 2020.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2012.
An estimated 1.5 million visually-impaired people in Pakistan cause an annual loss of Rs63 billion in lost productivity, said senior members of Ophthalmological Society of Pakistan here on Tuesday. About 80% of the prevalent causes of blindness in Pakistan, however, are either avoidable or can be helped with optical devices, the members said. The number of blind people globally stands between 40 and 45 million, and is expected to rise by 2 million every years to 54 million by the year 2020.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2012.