Poor eyesight on the rise amongst Vietnamese children

Director of the Nguyen Xuan Hiep addressed the congress on November 8 (Photo: VNA)

HCM City (VNA) – The number of
is increasing in Vietnam, particularly in big cities where nearly 40 percent of
children aged between 6-15 years old have contracted eye refractive defects.

At the annual congress of the (VOS), jointly
held by the VOS and the Vietnam National Institute of Ophthalmology (VNIO) in
Ho Chi Minh City on November 8, VNIO Director Nguyen Xuan Hiep said that the
refraction rate among rural children is 15-20 percent lower compared to that of
children living in urban areas.

A VNIO survey showed that some 3 million children with poor vision or impaired
sight are in need of examinations and prescribed glasses, he said, stating that
quality of eye care in Vietnam still falls short of expectations.

There are around 16,400 children who have impaired vision due to retinal
damage, corneal abrasion, cataracts, and glaucoma. However, Vietnam is still short
of qualified treatment facilities, while the eye care capacity in provincial
hospitals remains weak.

“The Government needs to draw up policies to develop the optical examination
and treatment system in order to reduce the risk of blindness among children”,
Hiep stressed.

Vietnam is striving to increase the rate of children receiving refraction
check-ups to 70 percent, he added.

The VOS Congress 2018 in Ho Chi
Minh City drew the participation of nearly 2,000 delegates, including experts from
Australia, China, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and
Thailand.

It offers a
good opportunity for domestic and international ophthalmological experts to
exchange their views and experiences, as well as update each other on new
knowledge, studies, and qualification improvements in the field of ophthalmology.

There will be 20 training courses on different specialties to be undertaken by
leading Vietnamese and international experts with the aim of updating knowledge
and approaches to ophthalmology in the region.

The event will run until November 10.–VNA