Abstract
Purpose: To estimate the prevalence and causes of visual impairment (VI), among primary school children in Mekelle, Ethiopia and the feasibility of teachers conducting vision screening in school us...
Highlights
There are an estimated 19 million children with Visual Impairment (VI), of which 12 million are due to Uncorrected Refractive Error (URE) (World Health Organisation, 2014a, 2014b)
A study on the prevalence of VI in school children in Africa suggested that the prevalence was too low to warrant vision screening being incorporated in school health programmes (Sharma, Congden, Patel, & Gilbert, 2012)
The relatively high VI prevalence found in this study in Mekelle and others in Ethiopia contradicts previously held views (Ovenseri-Ogbomo & Vo, 2010) that VI in school children in Africa is too low to warrant vision screening being incorporated in school health programmes (Sharma, Patel, & Gilbert, 2012)
Summary
There are an estimated 19 million children with Visual Impairment (VI), of which 12 million are due to Uncorrected Refractive Error (URE) (World Health Organisation, 2014a, 2014b). Within Ethiopia estimates of VI prevalence amongst school-aged children vary between 4%-9% (Demissie & Demissie, 2014; Kassa & Alene, 2003; Mehari, 2014; Nebiyat, Alemayhou, & Tigist, 2015; Worku & Bayu, 2002; Yared, Belaynew, Destaye, Ayanaw, & Zelalem, 2012) The variation in these estimates may partly reflect the different methodologies used including in definition of VI, age range included and type of school (private/public). In the Tigray, a predominantly rural region in northern Ethiopia, there are no available data on VI in schoolchildren with which to inform decisions about school eye health programmes (Nebiyat et al, 2015; Sewunet et al, 2014) To address this gap, this study aimed to assess the feasibility of vision testing by school teachers using Peek and to conduct a cross sectional survey to estimate the prevalence and causes of VI amongst school children, in the final years of primary school
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
