Trivia: Blindness & Gender

• Blindness affects 40-45 million people worldwide, and the WHO estimates that without increased prevention efforts, this number will double in the next 25 years.

• Women bear 64% of the burden of blindness and men bear 36%. This is in part due to women having a higher life expectancy, and therefore to age-related conditions such as macular degeneration. However, there are other factors. For example, in Africa and Asia, the major cause of blindness is the cataract, and population-based surveys from five Asian and African countries (China, India, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa) show that women account for between 53% and 72% of all people living with cataracts, but are much less likely to receive surgery for the cataracts. Additionally, trachoma (a chronic contagious microbial inflammation caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, which, if not treated, results in inturned eyelashes that abrade the cornea and can lead to blindness), an important cause of blindness in developing countries, is more common in women than men, with surveys in endemic areas showing that about 75% of adults with the condition are female. The condition can be treated at the early stage with antibiotics, while later stage treatment involves surgery.

• Some of the barriers that prevent women (and men) from receiving treatment or eye surgery include: cost of the procedure and of transportation to a hospital; inability to travel (e.g., older women often need assistance in traveling, which poor families cannot provide); differences in perceived value of surgery (e.g., viewing cataracts as an inevitable consequence of aging); lack of access to information and resources about treatments, such as surgery; lack of access to time and money to seek eye care; fear of poor outcomes.

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