GOVERNMENT APPROVES PLAN OF ACTIONS TO PREVENT BLINDNESS DEVELOPMENT

Armenpress
Nov 02 2006

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS: The government of Armenia gave its
OK today to a national strategic plan of actions drafted to prevent
development of blindness. This plan envisages that causes of blindness
will be eliminated by 2020.

Local experts say 75 percent of blindness cases can be avoided in
case of timely and qualified medical intervention. Vahan Poghosian,
an official of the health ministry, said one of the causes prompting
the authorities to turn to this problem was the growing number of
people with poor eyesight and blindness cases.

Cataract, glaucoma and diabetes remain major causes of blindness. Thus,
0.5 percent of adult population over 50 is completely blind and
another 50,000 people have poor eyesight.

The Union of Armenian Blind People registered last year 255 blind
children. The health ministry has set up a national committee to
prevent development of blindness to steer the work.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress