New Delhi: The estimated prevalence of blindness in India has reduced by approximately 47% in last 12 years, while untreated cataract continue to be leading cause of blindness, a government survey has revealed. According to the National Blindness and Visually Impaired Survey (2019) released by Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Thursday, the estimated blindness has came down to 0.36% from 1% in 2006-2007—since the last survey. According to the survey report,the visual impairment has come down by 51.9% to 2.55% as a compared to 2010. As per the survey report, the maximum prevalence of blindness was seen in age group of above 80 (11.6%), followed by 70-79 age group (4.1%), 60-69 age group (1.6%) and 50-59 age group (0.5%). The survey noted that the most of the blindness (92.9%) and visual impairment (96.2%)cases were due to avoidable causes.

Source: Mint October 10, 2019 18:56 UTC