Sube et al., 

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the prevalence and causes of blindness and visual impairment among patients in Akon payam, Warrap State, South Sudan.

Methods and materials: This was a cross-sectional study of 862 patients conducted at Akon in the period 18 – 31 September 2015. The Snellen E chart was used to measure visual acuity, and all patients had a basic eye examination. Their vision status was categorized according to the World Health Organization classification. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 22 (IBM).

Results: The age range of the study population was 3 – 86 years; 81.9% were aged 41-80 years. 50.8% were males and 49.2% were females. There were 1483 bilaterally blind eyes giving a prevalence of blindness of 86% (95% CI: 3.2497-3.3531) with prevalence of visual impairment of 3.9 % ( 95% CI: 2.5001-3.0944). Cataract (59.7%) was the commonest eye disease, followed by glaucoma (15.1%), corneal dystrophy (9.3%), allergic conjunctivitis (5.5%), corneal scar (1.9%), refractive errors (1.8%) and others (6.7%). Among those who are blind cataract (66%) was the major agent with females affected more than males. It was followed by glaucoma (16.7%), corneal dystrophy (10%), corneal scar(1.8%) and the rest of agents (5.4%). The main age group affected by blindness was the 41- 80 years age group (87%) and the least was below 20 years (1.1%). There was a strong association between age and sex with the causes of blindness.

Conclusion: There was equal sex preponderance with more blindness in 41 years or above. Cataract and glaucoma still remained major cause of blindness in this payam. More effort is needed by the government to reduce the burden of these diseases.

Key words: cataract, glaucoma, Akon payam, blindness, eye diseases.

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