The Prevalence Of Visual Acuity Impairment And Color Blindness On School Age Children Of Two Primary Schools In Addis Ababa

Vision is the primary means of integration between individuals and the externalrnenvironments. For a normal eye, light is focused on the retina. This message would then be sentrnto the brain to be interpreted as a message. There are different factors that will affect normalrnvision such as infection, malnutrition, lack of vitamin A rich food, refractive error, cataract, etc.rnVisual impairment is major cause of blindness and mortality in developing countries where therernis no enough health care services and because of malnutrition.rnThe main aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of visual acuity impairment andrncolor blindness in school children.rnThe study was conducted in randomly selected one governmental and one private primaryrnschools in Addis Ababa from Sep.10 to Nov.30, 2013. A cross sectional study design was utilizedrnand using random sampling with estimated sample size calculation, 378 students in two schoolsrnwere involved in the study. All the school age children in the selected schools who have arnwritten consent from their parents were included.rnSnellen chart was used for visual acuity test and color blindness was determined usingrnIshihara’s tests. Students who have visual acuity ≤ 6/12 and color blindness were furtherrninterviewed and diagnosed by ophthalmologist to identify the causes of visual acuity impairment.rnStructural questionnaires were also prepared and filled by parents to know the sociorndemographic features. The collected data was manually cleared and checked and the result wasrnpresented in the form of table and graph using SPSS version 20.rnAlthough prevalence of blindness is high as people aged, it is also a major problem inrnchildren in developing countries like Ethiopia because of malnutrition and limitation of healthrnservice. The study found the prevalence of visual acuity impairment; VA ≤ 6/12 in either eye wasrn5.8% (3.2% female, 2.6% male); VA< 6/18 in either eye was 1.1% and VA < 6/18 in better eyernwas 0.53%. The prevalence of color blindness in this study was 4.2% (1.6% female, 2.6% male);rn2.9% deutran, 1.1% protan and 0.3% color weakness.rnAlthough the prevalence of visual impairment in children was very low, priority should berngiven to them because the health of children would have high cost for economic, social andrneducational development of the community. Most visually impaired children showed lowrncompliance with the use of spectacle. Thus, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and otherrnstakeholders should look at different strategies among students to have behavioral change aboutrnthe use of spectacles. Further studies to be done to determine magnitude and severity of CVD usingrnanomaloscope, visual impairment of near vision using jaeger eye chart and risk factors forrnvisual problems. Early detection of visual defect of an individual is very important in life to makerndecision on future career or to take correction.rnKey words: visual acuity, color blindness, prevalence and visual impairment

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