A comparative assessment of avoidable blindness and visual impairment in seven Latin American countries: prevalence, coverage, and inequality
Objective. To conduct a comparative analysis of social inequalities in eye health and eye health care and generate baseline evidence for seven Latin American countries as a benchmarking exercise for monitoring progress toward three goals of the regional Plan of Action for the Prevention of Blindness...
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Pan American Health Organization
2015
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:fcc9035abe2f4a55babf46fd4e2e1a28 2023-05-15T15:15:22+02:00 A comparative assessment of avoidable blindness and visual impairment in seven Latin American countries: prevalence, coverage, and inequality Juan Carlos Silva Oscar J. Mújica Enrique Vega Alberto Barcelo Van C. Lansingh Joan McLeod Hans Limburg 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doaj.org/article/fcc9035abe2f4a55babf46fd4e2e1a28 EN ES PT eng spa por Pan American Health Organization http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49892015000100003&lng=en&tlng=en https://doaj.org/toc/1020-4989 1020-4989 https://doaj.org/article/fcc9035abe2f4a55babf46fd4e2e1a28 Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, Vol 37, Iss 1, Pp 13-20 (2015) Salud ocular ceguera desigualdades en la salud personas con daño visual prevalencia Argentina El Salvador Honduras Panamá Paraguay Perú Uruguay América Latina Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 article 2015 ftdoajarticles 2022-12-31T11:13:36Z Objective. To conduct a comparative analysis of social inequalities in eye health and eye health care and generate baseline evidence for seven Latin American countries as a benchmarking exercise for monitoring progress toward three goals of the regional Plan of Action for the Prevention of Blindness and Visual Impairment: increasing eye health service coverage, minimizing barriers, and reducing eye health-related disease burden. Methods. Results from cross-sectional eye health surveys conducted in six Latin American countries (Argentina, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay) from 2011 to 2013 and recently published national surveys in Paraguay were analyzed. The magnitude of absolute and relative inequalities between countries in five dimensions of eye health across the population gradient defined by three equity stratifiers (educational attainment, literacy, and wealth) were explored using standard exploratory data analysis techniques. Results. Overall prevalence of blindness in people 50 years old and older varied from 0.7% (95% CI: 0.4-1.0) in Argentina to 3.0% (95% CI: 2.3-3.6) in Panama. Overall prevalence of visual impairment (severe plus moderate) varied from 8.0% (95% CI: 6.5-11.0) in Uruguay to 14.3% (95% CI: 13.9-14.7) in El Salvador. The main reported cause of blindness was unoperated cataract and most cases of visual impairment were caused by uncorrected refractive error. Three countries had cataract surgical coverage of more than 90% for blind persons, and two-thirds of cataract-operated patients had good visual acuity. Conclusions. Blindness and moderate visual impairment prevalence were concentrated among the most socially disadvantaged, and cataract surgical coverage and cataract surgery optimal outcome were concentrated among the wealthiest. There is a need for policy action to increase services coverage and quality to achieve universality. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Argentina Uruguay |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English Spanish Portuguese |
topic |
Salud ocular ceguera desigualdades en la salud personas con daño visual prevalencia Argentina El Salvador Honduras Panamá Paraguay Perú Uruguay América Latina Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
spellingShingle |
Salud ocular ceguera desigualdades en la salud personas con daño visual prevalencia Argentina El Salvador Honduras Panamá Paraguay Perú Uruguay América Latina Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Juan Carlos Silva Oscar J. Mújica Enrique Vega Alberto Barcelo Van C. Lansingh Joan McLeod Hans Limburg A comparative assessment of avoidable blindness and visual impairment in seven Latin American countries: prevalence, coverage, and inequality |
topic_facet |
Salud ocular ceguera desigualdades en la salud personas con daño visual prevalencia Argentina El Salvador Honduras Panamá Paraguay Perú Uruguay América Latina Medicine R Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine RC955-962 Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 |
description |
Objective. To conduct a comparative analysis of social inequalities in eye health and eye health care and generate baseline evidence for seven Latin American countries as a benchmarking exercise for monitoring progress toward three goals of the regional Plan of Action for the Prevention of Blindness and Visual Impairment: increasing eye health service coverage, minimizing barriers, and reducing eye health-related disease burden. Methods. Results from cross-sectional eye health surveys conducted in six Latin American countries (Argentina, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and Uruguay) from 2011 to 2013 and recently published national surveys in Paraguay were analyzed. The magnitude of absolute and relative inequalities between countries in five dimensions of eye health across the population gradient defined by three equity stratifiers (educational attainment, literacy, and wealth) were explored using standard exploratory data analysis techniques. Results. Overall prevalence of blindness in people 50 years old and older varied from 0.7% (95% CI: 0.4-1.0) in Argentina to 3.0% (95% CI: 2.3-3.6) in Panama. Overall prevalence of visual impairment (severe plus moderate) varied from 8.0% (95% CI: 6.5-11.0) in Uruguay to 14.3% (95% CI: 13.9-14.7) in El Salvador. The main reported cause of blindness was unoperated cataract and most cases of visual impairment were caused by uncorrected refractive error. Three countries had cataract surgical coverage of more than 90% for blind persons, and two-thirds of cataract-operated patients had good visual acuity. Conclusions. Blindness and moderate visual impairment prevalence were concentrated among the most socially disadvantaged, and cataract surgical coverage and cataract surgery optimal outcome were concentrated among the wealthiest. There is a need for policy action to increase services coverage and quality to achieve universality. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Juan Carlos Silva Oscar J. Mújica Enrique Vega Alberto Barcelo Van C. Lansingh Joan McLeod Hans Limburg |
author_facet |
Juan Carlos Silva Oscar J. Mújica Enrique Vega Alberto Barcelo Van C. Lansingh Joan McLeod Hans Limburg |
author_sort |
Juan Carlos Silva |
title |
A comparative assessment of avoidable blindness and visual impairment in seven Latin American countries: prevalence, coverage, and inequality |
title_short |
A comparative assessment of avoidable blindness and visual impairment in seven Latin American countries: prevalence, coverage, and inequality |
title_full |
A comparative assessment of avoidable blindness and visual impairment in seven Latin American countries: prevalence, coverage, and inequality |
title_fullStr |
A comparative assessment of avoidable blindness and visual impairment in seven Latin American countries: prevalence, coverage, and inequality |
title_full_unstemmed |
A comparative assessment of avoidable blindness and visual impairment in seven Latin American countries: prevalence, coverage, and inequality |
title_sort |
comparative assessment of avoidable blindness and visual impairment in seven latin american countries: prevalence, coverage, and inequality |
publisher |
Pan American Health Organization |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://doaj.org/article/fcc9035abe2f4a55babf46fd4e2e1a28 |
geographic |
Arctic Argentina Uruguay |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Argentina Uruguay |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública, Vol 37, Iss 1, Pp 13-20 (2015) |
op_relation |
http://www.scielosp.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1020-49892015000100003&lng=en&tlng=en https://doaj.org/toc/1020-4989 1020-4989 https://doaj.org/article/fcc9035abe2f4a55babf46fd4e2e1a28 |
_version_ |
1766345740889620480 |