ABSTRACT
Glaucoma, as a subspeciality among ophthalmologists, is not novel; nevertheless, the majority of glaucoma specialists reside and practice in developed countries.There is a significant deficiency in glaucoma specialists and well-trained ophthalmologists in glaucoma, even relative to the overall scarcity of ophthalmologists in developing countries. Egypt has about one ophthalmologist per 20 000 people, while the ratio in India is one per 100 000 people.The situation is more dire in many African countries, where the ratio jumps to one ophthalmologist per 1 million people, if not more, and although 80% of Africans live in rural areas, eye care services are almost entirely situated in the capital cities and large provincial towns.This schism exists not only in resources and availability of medical care, but also in thoughts and ideas.The vast majority of research in glaucoma is aimed at either identifying pathophysiological disease pathways or the development of medical therapies.27
