Cataract Surgical Coverage And Visual Outcome Using Raab In Birnin Gwari Local Government Area, North West Nigeria

Context: Cataract is the leading cause of blindness worldwide. It is responsible for 51% of blindness and accounting for 65.2 million blind people worldwide. Cataract surgery has been shown to be one of the most cost effective health care interventions. Aims: To determine the cataract surgical coverage (CSC) and visual outcome using RAAB in Birnin Gwari Local Government Area, North West Nigeria. Setting and Design: Population based cross sectional study. Materials and Methods: Rapid method of assessing avoidable blindness was used (RAAB) in the study. A total of 2162 out of 2530 registered eligible subjects were examined. Two stage cluster random sampling was used to select 59 clusters in 40 villages, and in each cluster, 50 subjects aged 40 years and above were selected using probability proportional to the size. Biodata of all eligible subjects were registered followed by visual acuity (VA) testing. Subjects with VA of <6/18 were examined further to determine the cause of poor vision. Statistical analysis used: The data were recorded in a modified RAAB questionnaire form and were analysed using SPSS version 16.0 program (SPSS Inc., Illinois, USA). Results: Cataract surgical and couching coverage were found to be 31.9% and 19.9%, respectively. Visual outcome for cataract surgery was poor in 37% of the subjects; this was worst in those who had couching. Conclusions: In view of the low CSC, there is a need to provide quality and affordable cataract surgical services in the community.