Blindness in Africa: Zimbabwe schools for the blind survey

Abstract

An ophthalmic assessment survey of 430 students in Zimbabwe's two schools for the blind was conducted in 1988. Bilateral corneal opacity was found to be responsible for 75% of all blindness among institutionalised blind students. Thirteen per cent of the study patients could gain improved vision through either ocular surgical intervention or spectacle correction. Findings in this survey are similar to those from other schools for the blind elsewhere in Africa.