National-level outreach: South African Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness
Journal Title: The Community Eye Health Journal - Year 2006, Vol 19, Issue 58
Abstract
Early beginnings of the Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness The Bureau for the Prevention of Blindness was founded in 1944 as a division of the South African National Council for the Blind. From 1944 to 1952, the Bureau conducted countrywide surveys to determine the need for eye care services in our rural communities. Based on the information gathered, a mobile unit was established in 1952 with the help of the Order of St. John. This legacy has been built on over the decades and has evolved into a model which aims to increase access to eye care, particularly for disadvantaged township and rural people, while at the same time building the capacity and selfsufficiency of district level hospitals to provide eye care services within provincial health care services and budgets. The South African health service structure South Africa has a decentralised health service structure. The country is divided into nine administrative units or provinces (Eastern Cape, Free State, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North-West, Northern Cape, Western Cape). Services are provided by central, provincial and local health authorities. Within this system, a comprehensive national eye care intervention programme to the rural areas has been developed over the past six decades by the Bureau in collaboration with the respective provincial and local health authorities. Population South Africa has a population of 45 million. Slightly more than 50 per cent live in urban areas. Some 15 to 20 per cent of the population accesses health services through private medical schemes, while the public health sector is under pressure to deliver services to about 80 per cent of the population. Since 1994, the health sector has been transformed to increase access to the poor. Thirty million people are considered to be disadvantaged or indigent and it is on this population that the Bureau concentrates its efforts. Blindness statistics The estimated prevalence of blindness in South Africa is 0.75 per cent. It is estimated that 50 per cent of blindness is due to cataract, affecting an estimated 170,000 people. The cataract surgical rate amongst the indigent population is 1,000 per million per year.
Authors and Affiliations
Herman Kluever
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