The rest of the chapter can help you learn about the medical causes and treatments for sight problems. But to prevent blindness, communities must do something about the social causes that medicine cannot fix.
Causes of blindness and eye problems
Child blindness is usually caused by poor nutrition or infection. Many children go blind because:
- they do not have enough food, or their food does not give them the vitamins they need to keep their eyes healthy
- in crowded living conditions, disease and infection spread from person to person
- in communities where garbage and human waste are in the open, flies and other insects spread infection that can also cause blindness
- traditional medicines are misused, making infections worse (see page 165)
These problems cannot be solved by one person working alone. But people can work together to build latrines, get rid of garbage, and find ways to grow the food they need to stay healthy (see page 168). If communities work together, most blindness in children can be prevented.
Kesi loses sight in left eye.
Eye Care
