Cost of vision loss estimated at nearly $3 trillion globally, says AMD Alliance

The AMD Alliance International (AMDAI) released the first-ever estimates of global cost of vision loss ' put at $2,954 billion for the 733 million people living with low vision and blindness worldwide in 2010 ' at its Global Congress held in Vienna, Austria, last week.

Even more importantly, these costs are set to rise dramatically through to 2020 unless effective prevention and treatment strategies are adopted worldwide. Current costs include direct health care expenditure, informal caregiver time, lost productivity and inefficiencies in raising tax revenue to fund health care.

'The findings from this study represent the most definitive data available about the worldwide cost of vision loss,' said Alan Cruess, professor and Head District Chief Department of Ophthalmology, Dalhousie University (Canada), and chairman of the AMDAI's Scientific Advisory Panel. Penny Hartin, chief executive of the World Blind Union, added: 'With continued population growth, we know these costs will spiral upwards, and overburden global health care systems unless we take preventative action now. This ground-breaking research gives us the tools we need for continued advocacy with the United Nations and governments.'