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Cataract Surgical Rates in Latin America 2005-2011. João M. Furtado, Van C. Lansingh, María E. Nano, Marissa Carter VISION 2020 Latin America. Purpose. To describe the Cataract Surgical Rate (CSR) in 19 Latin American countries from 2005 to 2011
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Cataract Surgical Rates in Latin America 2005-2011 João M. Furtado, Van C. Lansingh, María E. Nano, Marissa Carter VISION 2020 Latin America
Purpose • To describe the Cataract Surgical Rate (CSR) in 19 Latin American countries from 2005 to 2011 • Data obtained from National Societies of Ophthalmology, VISION 2020 Committees and Ministries of Health representatives
Latin America • Pop: 563 million (* excluding the Caribbean; Source: United Nations) • Cataract is the main cause of blindness in the region (41-74%) Furtado et al SurvOphthalmol 2012
Population ≥ 50 Years (2011) Source: United Nations
Cataract Surgical Rate (CSR) • Annual number of cataract operations performed per million population Lansingh et al Ophthalmic Epidemiol 2010
CSR in Latin America 2513 1424
Number of ophthalmologists (per million population)
Cataract Surgeries per ophthalmologist in Latin America 41.6 30.4
Why CSR is increasing in LA? • Due to V2020 advocacy, more governments are incorporating cataract surgery as a priority, providing surgeries free of charge • Strong partnership between ONGs and local foundations • PAHO 5-year plan influenced policy change in many countries
Limitations • Lack of reliable data in some cases (especially private sector)/Complete data is not available for all countries • CSR includes all cataract surgeries performed, so an improvement in CSR does not necessarily mean more blind people are receiving surgery • Discrepancies between different regions/districts of the same country are not shown by this method
Remaining challenges • Improve data collection about number of surgeries performed and outcome (also disaggregate by gender, level of VA) • Improve access to cataract surgery not only in countries with a low CSR, but also in rural areas from countries with a higher CSR • Ageing of the population will demand more cataract surgery in the near future • There’s no such an ‘target CSR’ that is good for every country
Conclusion • CSR increased in 17 of 19 Latin American countries from 2005 to 2011, but cataract is still the main cause of blindness in the region • Indicator should help us to improve training and influence policy • CSR is a proxy indicator; we need to conduct population studies every 5 years to access quality of services and obtain CSC to determine if we are doing surgery in those with blindness/visual impairment