ABSTRACT
The prevalence of blindness in Ethiopia is estimated to be 1.5%. Approximately 80% of blindness is attributed to preventable or curable diseases. Eye diseases, including trachoma, accounted for 5.4% of the leading causes of outpatient morbidity in Ethiopia in 1986–1987 and were also one of the 15 leading causes for hospitalization. The four major causes of blindness in a bilaterally blind population in a hospital in Addis Ababa were cataract, infections, refractive errors, glaucoma, corneal opacity, retinal and optic nerve diseases, trauma, uveitis, and other. The history of organized eye care programs in Ethiopia dates back to the early 1950s, when schools were visited by an ophthalmic team from the school health program of the Ministry of Education. In 1955 WHO and UNICEF jointly collaborated with the Ministry of Health to initiate and run a communicable eye diseases project in Ethiopia.
