We Must Prioritise Vision As Part Of The Overall Healthcare Agenda

Jayanth Bhuvaraghan, Chief Mission Officer, Essilor International (EI), in an interaction with Express Healthcare, informs that awareness on uncorrected poor vision is the need of the hour and further elucidates that there should be an increased awareness by central and state governments amongst drivers on vision correction, regular eye checks for safe driving

Can you tell us what would be the complexities of uncorrected refractive error (URE)? Share a few global and national level statistics?

Uncorrected poor vision is the world’s largest disability. An estimated 2.5 billion people globally, one in three people, suffer from uncorrected refractive errors, including myopia, hyperopia, presbyopia and astigmatism. For India, approximately 550 million people have refractive errors that remain uncorrected. Globally, the estimated cost in lost productivity for the economy due to uncorrected refractive error is $272 billion per year. In India, $37 billion is wasted in lost productivity. By 2050, an estimated five billion people, or half the world’s population, will suffer from myopia. However, 80 percent of uncorrected refractive error can be corrected or cured.

Why is uncorrected refractive error a big issue in India?

Globally, 23 percent of drivers have uncorrected vision. In India, a whooping 42 percent of drivers have uncorrected refractive errors. At a time when road accidents increased by 17.6 percent between 2008-2012 and when there are 400 deaths per day due to road traffic accidents in India, it’s time to take a hard look at the correlation between safer roads and checking your vision. We consider the primary barriers to good vision for everyone to be either lack of awareness about good vision or lack access to vision care.