FIMA Year Book 2010-2011 - Federation of Islamic Medical ...

FIMA GIVES VISION TO POOR
SRI LANKANS
FIMA GIVES VISION TO POOR SRI LANKANS
M. L. M. Rayes*
M. L. M. Rayes*
Abstract:
Sri Lanka, a developing nation in South Asia, has significant prevalence of visual impairments,
deficiency of eye care facilities and qualified eye surgeons, especially outside major cities. The
situation worsened over the past three decades of internal conflict between Tamil rebels and the
government. To a large population segment, the governmental eye care services are not available,
and the private sector services are not affordable. Charitable and humanitarian non-governmental
organizations came forward to ease the burdens of visual impairments.
This article presents the role of the Federation of Islamic Medical Associations (FIMA), and other
relief NGOs, in alleviating visual impairments, with reference to the central role of the Kuwait
Hospital Foundation in Sri Lanka.
Key words: Visual impairment, Cataract, Sri Lanka.
Introduction:
Impaired vision and blindness are one of the
major public health problems facing many
developing countries. Although the diseases that
affect the eyes are generally common and
widespread in all nations, it is the developing
countries and poor nations, where, due to poor
resources and inadequate infrastructures in
delivering health care services, the disease
burden remains very heavy.
In 2010, World Health Organization (WHO)
released new global estimates of visual
impairment using the most up-to-date studies.
WHO estimates that the number of people with
visual impairment (presenting vision) is 285
million (65% of whom are aged over 50 years).
Of these, 246 million have low vision (63% over
50) and 39 million are estimated to be blind
(82% over 50) 1,2 .
These estimates were based on 50 national and
sub-national studies from 38 countries,
published and unpublished, conducted since
2004, and on previous studies that were still
representative. The majority of the 50 surveys
were rapid assessments for the population 50
years and older.
Regional estimates were calculated with a model
taking into account, among other factors, the
country's economic development status, after
having verified the fit between data on visual
impairment and development indicators.
The distribution of blind and visually impaired
persons of all ages in the six WHO Regions is
shown in Table I.
The top three causes of visual impairment (VI)
are uncorrected refractive errors, cataract and
glaucoma. The top three causes of blindness in
the 2010 estimate are cataract, glaucoma and
age-related macular degeneration 1 .
*Dr. M. L. M Rayes
Medical Director – Kuwait Hospital
Consultant Paediatrician
Senior Lecturer and Head
Department of Paediatrics
Rajarata University of Sri Lanka.
Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka.
E-mail: rayes@doctors.org.uk
FIMA YearBook 2010-2011
73