India

Blindness in India

According to the National Library of Medicine, despite accounting for less than 18% of the global population, India carries nearly one-quarter of the world’s blindness burden. This is the result of a severe shortage of ophthalmologists. In a country of more than 1.4 billion, there are only about 20,000-25,000 practicing 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.