Visual Impairment and Burden of Treatment

In India, Visual Impairment and blindness accounts for 25 percent of the world’s population. A strong inter-linkage is seen between poverty and visual impairment which is associated with poor vaccination, poor quality of health care and low socio-economic conditions. Prevalence of visual impairment was seen to be highest among women. The social factors along with economic burden of healthcare cost among the families having visually impaired women impedes the accessibility and health seeking behavior, as her decisions for her healthcare is taken by the household head and this have lifelong repercussions in a life of a female. This study aims to analyses the burden of treatment among visually impaired women and the role of social factors contributing to the challenges faced by her in availing treatment and being an equal in this society.