A Child’s Right to Sight

ORBIS Africa and the Children's Institute at the University of Cape Town, South Africa present this Advocacy Brief on a child's right to sight, argued within the legal framework ensuring children's enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health. Download...

Children with visual impairment talk about their lives

This study looks into children’s experiences of visual impairment through their own voice, discussing their feelings of marginalisation and loneliness as a result of their disability. Download...

Reducing childhood blindness depends on the availability of primary health care. This includes a proper diet replete with vitamin A, rubella immunization for young women and infants, and a clean, hygienic environment. Also important are increasing public awareness of the harm that can arise from eye trauma, traditional medicine or home remedies for eye injuries, and marriages between blood relatives.

©Jon Hyams

Because a child’s eye is very different from an adult’s — it is especially susceptible to nutritional deficiencies and infections — the diagnosis and surgical treatment of children requires specialized equipment and training in paediatric ophthalmology. Resources for paediatric ophthalmology, however, are extremely limited in developing countries, and public awareness and government initiatives are also lacking. In developing countries, the primary causes of childhood blindness include: Corneal scarring from measles, vitamin A deficiency, disease transmission through the birth canal or the use of harmful, traditional home remedies Cataracts from rubella Cataract, glaucoma and retinal dystrophies of genetic origin Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) caused by premature birth Amblyopia, which occurs when the brain fails to learn to see as the result of strabismus (squint) or uncorrected refractive error.

How common is childhood blindness? According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 1.4 million children are needlessly blind. Three quarters of those children live in the poorest regions of Africa and Asia. Each year almost half a million children go blind — approximately one child every minute. As many as 60 percent of blind children die within a year of losing their sight, mainly as a result of the condition causing their blindness. In developing countries with high under -5 mortality rates, the prevalence of blindness may be as high as 1.5 per 1,000 children — five times higher than the rate found in countries with low under-5 mortality rates.

50% of childhood blindness can be avoided

Combating childhood blindness has been identified by the World Bank as the most cost-effective of health interventions. It is considered a priority area in global blindness prevention due to the number of years of blindness that will ensue — devastating families and keeping children from contributing to their communities. What ORBIS is doing about childhood blindness in developing countries ORBIS was one of the first organisations working in developing countries to make the prevention and treatment of childhood blindness a priority. ORBIS is strengthening pediatric eye care capacity by offering training as well as financial and technical support to its partners.

Read about the First Paediatric Eye Care Centre opened in Kitwe, Zambia
Learn more about the life changing stories of George, Kefa, Kehinde and Samuel