Causes of childhood visual impairment and unmet low-vision care in blind school students in Ghana

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the causes of childhood visual impairment and blindness in students of a school for blind children, to determine how many students had some residual vision, and to evaluate any unmet low-vision care. A survey of students in the blind school was conducted in two parts in May-June and then October 2003. The sample consisted of 201 students who became blind before the age of 16. Information was obtained from student interviews, doctors' referral notes and ophthalmic examination of all students who consented. Students with residual vision had low-vision assessments. These investigations were supplemented with active participation of the investigators in Parent-Teacher Association meetings and focus group discussions with parents. One hundred and ninety-nine students consented and were recruited, whereas two declined. Ninety-six became visually impaired within their first year of life and 33 by the age of 5 years. Pathology of the cornea and then the lens were the commonest causes of blindness. One hundred and eight students were totally blind, whereas 87 (43.7%) had some residual vision and formed the target for the second part of the study. Fifty-one out of 77 of this target group who turned up for low-vision examination had useful residual vision by the World Health Organisation (WHO) low-vision examination chart. Spectacle magnifiers aided two students to read normal print at N5 and N8, respectively. Different visual aids would help enhance the residual vision in some of the others. Emotional trauma was apparent in parents and teachers. Children who became blind later in life remained in shock for a longer time and adapted less well to their visual impairment. Visual impairment in the population is not uncommon. Some causes are preventable. There is a significant unmet need for low-vision care, particularly amongst children in Ghana, and perhaps many countries in the West Africa subregion. It is hoped that the findings from this study will help spur sustained interventions.

Prevalence of congenital eye anomalies in a paediatric clinic in Ghana

“…This corroborates findings from studies in schools for the blind in Ghana [3][4][5] and reports from Nigeria [6,7]. The frequency of visual impairment (62%) in our study was comparable with that found in previous studies in schools for the blind in Ghana [4,5].…”

“…This corroborates findings from studies in schools for the blind in Ghana [3][4][5] and reports from Nigeria [6,7]. The frequency of visual impairment (62%) in our study was comparable with that found in previous studies in schools for the blind in Ghana [4,5]. It is possible that some infants would have been categorized as having visual impairment had there been a quantitative assessment of acuity, and this would have increased the frequency of visual impairment in our population.…”

“…However, in Ghana, as in many other developing countries, there is paucity of information on the epidemiology of congenital eye anomalies. Some studies have reported little more than disease frequency [3] or were carried out in schools for the blind [4,5].…”

Ocular Health Status and Causes of Enrolment into Special Schools in Osun State, Nigeria

“…In the study from west of Scotland, some of the students with blindness also had co-existing multiple disabilities [18]. Corneal scarring still remains the most common cause of childhood blindness in sub-Saharan Africa [3,19]. Visual impairment was caused by refractive error and cataract among 7 students with hearing disabilities.…”

Use of Skype to Educate Underprivileged Blind Children in India: Motivations, Barriers and Teaching Strategies

“…Services for the blind children in developing countries need to be improved (Pal et al, 2006;Ntim-Amponsah and Amoaku, 2008;Okoye et al, 2009). In addition, a need was expressed to involve blind volunteer teachers as they would be better able to understand the problems that blind children face than professionally-trained sighted teachers.…”