India – Effective coverage of cataract surgery (eCSC) base line data for 2030 target published.

The 73th WHA endorsed Integrated People-Centred Eye Care (IPEC) as a global eye health strategy in 2020. Given the large unmet need for care, the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly in May 2021 endorsed two new global eye care targets for 2030 – namely, a 40% increase in effective coverage of refractive errors, and a 30% increase in effective coverage of cataract surgery. This target has been further endorsed in the Regional Committee meeting of WHO SEARO in 2022.   

Baseline data for these indicators are essential to set the target for 2030 and to embed in their national eye health plan in line to implementing WHO – IPEC.  Most country are lacking those baseline data to determine the target for 2030, to solve this issue the Lancet Global Health published the available data for 55 countries on eCSC. 

India completed a nationwide RAAB survey in 2017 and those data are partly incoporated in Lancet publications. Now more detailed information of eCSC has been published in April 2024. This evidence will serve as baseline estimates on eCSC for India enabling to set the target for 2030. 

The publication shows that Agesex standardized and weighed eCSC operable cataract at best corrected visual acuity <6/12 and good outcome at presenting visual acuity as 6/12 in India as 36.7% (95% CI: 33.6, 39.9), and cataract surgical coverage (CSC)  57.3% (95% CI: 53.3, 61.2), a relative quality gap in cataract surgery being 36.0%. eCSC in males was higher at 38.0% than females (35.6%). For detail information please read this.