Sub-Saharan Africa is afflicted with high levels of blindness burden, affecting the quality of life and productivity of its people. While cataracts account for over 40 per cent of blindness, uncorrected refractive error leading to vision loss is over 50 per cent. The number of ophthalmologists and optometrists in the region, who can restore vision by surgery, and provide corrective eyeglasses for uncorrected refractive error, respectively, is woefully inadequate. However, most of these

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... t of these countries have primary health care centres. Workers in these centres have played remarkably successful roles in working with professionals in helping to reduce the burden of blindness due to onchocerciasis and trachoma.