Screening for childhood blindness and visual impairment in a secondary school in rural Malawi

Sir,

Childhood blindness is one of five areas of disease control in Vision2020: The Right to Sight,¹ and it is estimated that there are 300 000 blind children in Africa.² However, data on the epidemiology of childhood blindness in sub-Saharan Africa is scant, as children are rarely included in blindness surveys. Historically, information has been obtained from schools for the blind and, more recently, the key informant method,³ but this does not address children with milder forms of visual impairment. Screening for visual impairment in regular schools may also yield useful information, although children with debilitating visual impairment may be less likely to attend, and secondary school attendance is not universal in Africa.

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