Eye Care Camp

Around 8 million people suffer from some form of eye disorder in Nepal which is about 26% of the population. But only about 32% of those 8 million people are getting eye care services. About 106,000 people or 0.35% of Nepal’s 30 million population is blind compared to 0.15% in the United States. Every day, 125 persons goes blind in Nepal out of which about 7 are children

Eighty percent of the Nepalese population and ninety percent of country’s blind population live in rural areas. In Nepal, The highest rate of blindness in Nepal is for those who are over 70 years of age. The elderly are also more likely to live in rural areas. About 69% of blind people are females who account for 63.8% of cataract blindness because they do not receive treatment at the same rate as men. Potential causes of the difference could be that females are also more likely to be illiterate, live in a rural location and have lower income.

Such is the sad situation of eye care in Nepal but fortunately, 80% of the blind is avoidable or preventable or treatable. The survey data clearly indicate that eye care services is most critically needed in the rural villages where women and senior citizens are located. However, Nepal struggles to cope with providing adequate and inclusive eye care services. Nepal has only 11 ophthalmologists per million people compared to 60 per million people in USA. Likewise, Nepal has only 17 optometrists per million people and 34 allied ophthalmic personnel per million.

The volunteer travel program attempts to bring eye test services to the rural and remote communities so that the people with eye disorder may get or seek medical care to avoid blindness. In the bigger picture of eye care infrastructure, the volunteer travel eye care camps is the first steps to delivering eye care and the outreach may only save handful of people from visual impairment but saving even one eye is surely worthwhile initiative.