SYDNEY, June 2 /PRNewswire/ --
A study published in the latest edition of Bulletin of the World Health Organisation (June 2009) estimates the global economy loses $269 billion(1) in productivity annually due to vision impairment.
The authors from Johns Hopkins University, the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE), University of New South Wales (UNSW) and the African Vision Research Institute (AVRI) University of KwaZulu-Natal, say the problem could be eliminated simply, and very cost-effectively, by an eye examination and a pair of spectacles.
Of the 158.1 million worldwide with vision impairment resulting from uncorrected refractive error, 8.7 million are avoidably blind.