Barriers for Cataract Treatment among Elderly in Sri Lanka

Cataract is still the leading cause of blindness. Many government institutes and voluntary organizations in Sri Lanka are providing free treatment services to patients with cataract. Still people are not patronizing the available free services; thus they have to live with impaired vision or blindnes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current gerontology and geriatrics research 2019, Vol.2019 (2019), p.1-6
Main Authors: Wickremasinghe, Rajitha, Kasturiratne, Anuradhani, de Silva, J., Amaratunge, M. S., Arulmoly, K., Hewage, S. A., Nishad, Nilanga, Abeysundara, P. K.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age
Blindness
Care and treatment
Cataract
Cataracts
Diabetic retinopathy
Divisions
Epidemiology
Eye surgery
Glaucoma
Macular degeneration
Medical policy
Older people
Public health
Questionnaires
Rural areas
Surgery
Visual impairment
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Summary:Cataract is still the leading cause of blindness. Many government institutes and voluntary organizations in Sri Lanka are providing free treatment services to patients with cataract. Still people are not patronizing the available free services; thus they have to live with impaired vision or blindness. This paper describes the barriers for cataract treatment among the population over 60 years of age. Out of 470 elders, 379 were found to have some kind of cataract. This study demonstrated lack of awareness and knowledge, socioeconomic factors, and misconceptions as the main barriers for cataract treatment which has led to a lower cataract surgery rate irrespective of the high cataract prevalence reported. Findings of this study highlight the importance of cataract as a common health problem in elderly and need for removal of the barriers for its treatment which should be given due prominence in the formulation of public health policy in Sri Lanka at the earliest.
ISSN:1687-7063
1687-7071
DOI:10.1155/2019/6262456