Cd. Cook et Aa. Stulting, PREVALENCE AND INCIDENCE OF BLINDNESS DUE TO AGE-RELATED CATARACT IN THE RURAL-AREAS OF SOUTH-AFRICA, South African medical journal, 85(1), 1995, pp. 26-27
Objectives. The Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness is responsible
for the provision of cataract surgery to the rural indigent population
of South Africa. It is important for the Bureau to know both the prev
alence and the incidence of cataract blindness in the population. Desi
gn, setting and subjects. Blindness prevalence surveys were conducted
in KwaZulu in 1990 and 1993. Outcome measures and results. The prevale
nce of cataract blindness was 0,59% (95% confidence interval 0,21) in
1990 and 1993. The prevalence of aphakia was 0,1% in 1990 and 0,2% in
1993, demonstrating a probable increase in the delivery of cataract su
rgical services, although this had not produced a demonstrable fall in
the prevalence of cataract blindness. The calculated annual incidence
of cataract blindness was 0,14%. Conclusion. Among a rural population
of approximately 19 million South Africans, there is a backlog of 113
000 unoperated cataract-blind people and an incidence of 27 000 new c
ataract blind per year. The implications of this backlog for cataract
blindness in our rural areas are discussed.