Objectives: To study the characteristics of blindness due to cataract and difficulties in public access to cataract surgery. Subject: The people aged 50 and older in 16 cities/provinces representing various ecological regions in Vietnam. Methods: WHO's Rapid Assessment Avoidable Blindness. Assessment criteria includes bilateral blindness due to cataract and challenges in cataract surgery. Result: The rate of bilateral blindness in the people of 50 years old and older was 1.6 percent, in which that of women was 2.1 percent, _ higher than that of men - 1.0 percent. The rate of blindness due to cataract was 1.6 percent (or 210,540 people) f nationwide, in which that of men and of women was 1.0 percent (or 57.584 persons) and 2.1 percent (or 152.956 persons) respectively. The rate of those with VA from 3/60 to 6/60 was 1.4 percent (or 177.595 people). The rate of those with VA from 6/60 to 6/18 was 4.6 percent (or 583,616 people). The number of cataract patients with VA below 3/18 was 971.651, in which that of men and women was 303.056 and 668.595, respectively. The biggest challenge was poverty and lack of knowledge (unaffordability for the treatment took up 25.22 percent), unawareness of curability (16.9 percent), wrong understanding that surgery is unneccessary for too old patients (16.38 percent), lack of family members supporting the patient in the surgery, etc. Conclusion: Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in Vietnam. The main challenge to public access to cataract' surgery comes from poverty and lack of knowledge.
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