This report provides crucial guidance on how best to tackle what is fast becoming a leading cause of blindness in the Commonwealth and around the world.
Diabetes, which has now reached epidemic levels, brings with it the devastating threat of vision loss and irreversible blindness. Of the estimated 385 million people diagnosed with diabetes globally, over 65
million are in India. This landmark research report details the provisions currently available in India to screen and treat people for diabetic retinopathy, and highlights where improvements are still very much
needed.
Research was conducted across 11 major cities in India, in over 80 eye hospitals or departments, 73 diabetic clinics, and interviews conducted with 650 people with diabetes and diabetic retinopathy.
The research gathered from this study has been used to inform The Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust’s (the Trust) five-year Initiative to tackle blindness caused by diabetes in India. The report’s alarming
finding that almost half of all people with diabetes had already lost vision by the time retinopathy was diagnosed shows that intervention is needed, and quickly.