title: An extraordinary role for village community development workers in diagnosing blindness in the community.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the reliability of village community development workers in screening for blindness in the community and to suggest an extraordinary role for these cadres.
  
  
  METHODS
  Diagnostic study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Chivi District, Zimbabwe.
  
  
  METHODS
  A simple random sample of 148 out of 886 people selected from notification forms.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sensitivity, specificity and predictive values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The screening method employed was found to have a sensitivity of 93% (95% CI), specificity of 32% (95% CI) and a predictive value for a positive result of 75%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The use of village community development workers to screen for blindness in the community has proved to be a reliable alternative when there is shortage of both ophthalmic trained personnel and funds.
authors.affiliation: University of Zimbabwe Medical School, Department of Surgery, Harare, Zimbabwe.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Masanganise
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nhindiri
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tota
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Masanganise
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003150:Community Health Workers / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007587:Job Description; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D015351:Vision Screening / Q000592:standards*; D015030:Zimbabwe