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$632 billion needed each year to eliminate avoidable blindness by 2020
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The cost to eliminate avoidable blindness globally by 2020 is about $632 billion per year, a study found. Countries currently spend $592 billion per year.
The funds would be used to eliminate avoidable blindness, construct primary and secondary health care systems, and eliminate the “backlog” of avoidable blindness, the study authors said.
Sixty-eight percent of the additional funds would have to come from high-income nations, although only 16% of the population resides in these nations, the study authors said; $127 billion would be needed from low- and middle-income nations.
The study authors said there is a need to improve data across the eye care sector to help refine the estimates on investment needed to end blindness. Some of the key shortfalls include limited data on current eye care expenditures, limited data on current workforce and infrastructure with respect to eye care, and changes in data collection methods.
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