India

Blindness in India

Despite amounting to less than 20% of the global population, over 40% of the world’s blindness population lives in India. This is the result of a severe shortage of ophthalmologists. In a country of 1.2 billion, there are only 15,000 practicing ophthalmologists. The United States, with just a quarter of India’s population, has 20 percent more ophthalmologists.

The National Program for Control of Blindness (NPCB) has made strides to reduce the prevalence of blindness and coordinate efforts to train eye surgeons in India. However, there is still much work to be done.