GLOBAL INITIATIVE The Economic Case.
Year: 1998
Type: article
Abstract: In his introductory article in this Journal (Vol. 11, Issue No. 25) on the Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness, Bjorn Thylefors, Director of the WHO Programme for the Prevention of Blindness and Deafness, drew attention to the huge burden imposed by blindness, particularly in developing countries. Not only are the numbers of blind and visually disabled increasing, their number could actually double by the year 2020 unless urgent action is taken. And the tragedy is that most of this is unnecessary – 80% of blindness is either preventable or curable. Efficient, effective and well-proven interventions are available to reduce dramatically this increasing threat. Equally important, although probably not so well known, is the fact that these interventions include some of the most cost effective available in the whole of the health sector. This needs to be given much greater emphasis if eye care services are to compete successfully for their fair share of health service budget.
Source: Europe PMC (PubMed Central)
Author: R B Porter
Institution: Sightsavers
Language: English
Subfield: Ophthalmology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1576464474