Blindness In Blind Schools Essay

DISCUSSION This study aimed at identifying the causes of blindness in a selected population of school-going children. Reliable information on the causes of visual loss in children is difficult to obtain in areas of the world where there is no system of blindness registration. Population based surveys are the best means of collecting the accurate prevalence data. However, large samples (many thousands of children) are required for these studies because the prevalence of childhood blindness is very low. Moreover, many ophthalmologists are required to carry out these surveys. Therefore, these studies are very expensive. (Dandona L et al 2009).

 Examination of children in blind schools has the advantage

It does provide an indication of the relative importance of the different causes of childhood blindness and are subject to certain inherent biases which include limited accessibility of services because of very low socioeconomic status of parents, or because of very long distance between their residence and these schools, knowledge of the existence of blind schools, children with multiple disabilities who are not accepted in the blind schools (therefore, causes of visual loss with other disabilities tend to be under-represented) and preschool children (less than 5 years of age). Furthermore, cultural and social barriers, such as co-education, refrains parents from sending their children to these schools. (Kello AB et al 2003).

Another limitations is that children in schools for the blind may not be representative of the blind in the whole population as it’s believed that in most developing countries only about 10 % of the children are in blind schools. (Kello AB et al 2003).
Furthermore, in the poor countries it is estimated that 60-80% of blind children die within 1-2 years of becoming blind. (Lewallen S et al