Barriers to surgical intervention among blind and low vision children in Malawi

Abstract

Background: In the two years following the initiation of a childhood blindness project, it was recognised that many blind and low vision children who might benefit from surgical intervention were not operated. We investigated the factors associated with refusal through a survey of the parents/guardians of children referred for surgical intervention. Methods: A list of children who could benefit from surgical intervention (n=60) was compiled and a questionnaire was developed and translated into the local language. Separate in-depth interviews with a subset of parents were conducted to obtain additional information. Results: In-depth interviews were conducted with the parents of five children. The structured interviews/questionnaires were returned for 35/60 children; of the 25 other children, 14 had been operated on in the intervening period, six had left school and could not be traced, and five parents/guardians could not be questioned as they lived too far from the school or were absent at the time of the...