• The prevalence and cause of blindness in children are related to levels of socio-economic development and the availability
of primary health care and eye-care services.
• There are ten times as many blind children per million total population in poor communities compared with affluent communities.
• The major preventable causes of blindness in children are declining in poor countries as a result of large scale public
health interventions and cataract is becoming a relatively more important avoidable cause.
• Retinopathy of prematurity is an important cause in Latin America and Eastern Europe and is increasing in the emerging economies
of Asia.
• Control requires comprehensive eye-care services, from community interventions through to specialist tertiary levels services.