Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness

This means, their lost vision could have been avoided.

This is according to the Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) report in PNG.

The report also highlighted that from this 40, 000 blind, twice as many are women. And the higher prevalence of blindness is in the Highlands region, due to inaccessibility to proper health services.

Dr Amyna Sultan from the National Prevention of Blindness committee revealed these results yesterday.

She said the leading cause of blindness in PNG is cataract - a simple operable condition.

This follows the first national Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) research study that revealed more women are unaware that cataract treatment is possible in PNG.

According to the study, 40,746 people in the country are blind in both eyes.

The study also showed that 61 percent out of 40,746 which is 24,855 women are less likely to feel the need for eye surgery.

Dr Anthea Burnett of Brien Holden Vision Institute and Vision CRC said there is a need for more awareness on cataract surgery services in PNG.

The RAAB is a population-based survey to assess the prevalence of blindness and vision impairment, its main causes, the output and quality of cataract surgery and other indicators for eye care services.

The study was conducted by the National Prevention of Blindness Committee (PBL) carried out at 100 randomly selected communities in PNG.

The study determined the primary cause of blindness, which is untreated cataract, and revealed that 67,987 people are blind in one eye.