Project vision: a new and sustainable model for eliminating cataract blindness in China.

摘要

Cataract is by far the most common cause of major vision loss, accounting for approximately half of all global blindness. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), roughly 18 million people worldwide are bilaterally blind from cataract. These sobering statistics have a profound societal economic impact through the combined loss of productivity of both the blind and those who must care for them. This, and the significant reduction of life expectancy for the blind, makes sight restoring cataract surgery one of society's most cost-effective medical interventions. It is estimated that increased economic productivity during the first postoperative year alone exceeds the cost of the surgery by a factor of 15.