Americans with Cataracts to Increase More Than 80% by 2050

The number of Americans with cataracts will increase to 38.5 million in the next 16 years and jump to 45.6 million by 2050, representing a jump of more than 80%, according to the Prevent Blindness “Future of Vision: Forecasting the Prevalence and Costs of Vision Problems. The World Health Organization reports that cataracts are the leading cause of blindness in the world. Read more. 

Vaccine for Vision Scourge Nearing Completion

"The world's first vaccine for a disease that causes misery for millions in Africa could be tested within five years," notes Medical News Today. "Researchers have taken a major step towards developing a vaccine against river blindness, also known as onchocerciasis, which affects an estimated 17 million people throughout the world. More than 90 per cent of cases of river blindness - listed by The World Health Organization as a neglected tropical disease - occur in west and central Africa. River blindness is a caused by infection with the parasitic worm Onchocerca volvulus and is spread by blackflies that breed in rivers." Read more.

Myopia on the Rise Globally

Key scientists, researchers and clinical experts discussed the increasing prevalence of myopia and its visual, social and economic impact at a joint World Health Organization and Brien Holden Vision Institute (BHVI) meeting. Health care experts reported that myopia is the leading cause of blindness in older people in Tajimi, Japan, and in Shanghai, China. A report from BHVI estimated that 5 billion people will have myopia in 2050, with almost a billion having high myopia. Professor Brien Holden said that “vision impairment and blindness was rising in children from uncorrected myopia and in adults from the pathological consequences of myopia later in life.” The participants also investigated the potential interventions. Dr Serge Resnikoff said that “a major contribution from the meeting was the definition and description of the retinal condition that causes blindness with myopia so that future surveys can accurately record the number of people with vision impairment and blindness from myopia.”

The World Needs 65,000 More ECPs

"Governments could add thousands of millions of dollars to the global economy simply by investing in eye examinations and the provision of glasses for some 703 million people who need them, according to a study published this month in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization," according to a News Medical post. "The study estimates that 65 000 more optometrists, ophthalmologists, optical dispensers and other eye-care professionals would be needed to provide these services and that it would cost between US$ 20 000 million and US$ 28 000 million to train them and set up and run the eye-care facilities needed," Read more. This is a variation of the write- that this study received from our Oct. 2 post.