Prevalence of significant refractive error, low vision and blindness among children in Bangladesh

5-15-year-old children of two sub-districts of Khulna district were screened for visual acuity and eye disease through community level pediatric vision-screening camp from August 2001 to December 2002. Children were first screened by trained ophthalmic paramedics and when a child identified with visual acuity less than 6/9 in either eye or an eye disease, he/she was subsequently examined by doctor and underwent refraction. Children whose visual acuity could be improved with glasses were detected as significant refractive error case and prescriptions for glasses were given. A total of 28,835 children were screened in 207 camps; 286 were detected as significant refractive error, 43 low vision, 62 unilateral and 19 bilateral blind cases. The prevalences of significant refractive error, low vision, unilateral and bilateral blindness were 1%, 0.15%, 0.22% and 0.07%, respectively. Refractive error is a significant cause of visual disability among Bangladeshi children and many of them are undetected and the unilateral blindness is three times higher than bilateral blindness among Bangladeshi children. Community level pediatric vision-screening program is an effective way to identify and treat problems of refractive errors among children with a high coverage of case detection.