title: South Africa's cataract surgery rates: why are we not meeting our targets?
abstract: Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in South Africa, responsible for about 50% of the prevalence of blindness and identified as a national health priority. The cataract surgery rate (CSR) should be at least 2 000 per million population per year for elimination of cataract blindness. The national CSR target was planned to increase from 1 000 in 2005 to 2 000 in 2010, but since CSRs have failed to reach targets each year, the national target for 2010 was reduced from 2 000 to 1 500. We reviewed data from a situational analysis in 2007 of cataract surgery services to ascertain the obstacles to achieving CSR targets.
authors.affiliation: Division Ophthalmology, Groote Schuur Hospital and University of Cape Town, South Africa. karin.lecuona@uct.ac.za
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lecuona
authors.forename: Colin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cook
mesh_terms: D001766:Blindness / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006292:Health Priorities; D006801:Humans; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology