Global cost of correcting vision impairment from uncorrected refractive error
TR Fricke, BA Holden, DA Wilson, G Schlenther, KS Naidoo, S Resnikoff & KD Frick
Volume 90, Number 10, October 2012, 728-738
Table 4. Cost of education and new facilities for additional refractive care practitionersa required to correct vision impairment due to uncorrected refractive error, worldwide, 2006–2010
| WHO region and subregionb | Capital costs of education (thousand US$) | Annual running costs of education (US$ per student) | Annual cost of continuing professional development for 5 years (thousand US$) | Capital costs of new refractive care facilities (thousand US$) | Annual running costs of new refractive care facilities for 5 years (thousand US$) | Total cost of education and new refractive care facilities over 5 yearsc (thousand US$) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| African Region | ||||||
| D | 10 121 | 2 922 | 14 649 | 183 031 | 139 511 | 1 029 207 |
| E | 11 900 | 2 774 | 3 581 | 230 188 | 150 258 | 1 034 003 |
| Total | 22 020 | 2 803 | 18 230 | 413 220 | 289 769 | 2 063 210 |
| Region of the Americas | ||||||
| A | 0 | 10 228 | 6 772 | 92 864 | 425 367 | 2 226 470 |
| B | 9 285 | 1 783 | 4 886 | 231 910 | 268 548 | 1 685 555 |
| D | 3 317 | 1 286 | 284 | 49 820 | 34 364 | 231 687 |
| Total | 12 601 | 2 458 | 11 942 | 374 595 | 728 279 | 4 143 712 |
| Eastern Mediterranean Region | ||||||
| B | 1 120 | 2 000 | 470 | 55 472 | 108 996 | 606 112 |
| D | 6 929 | 1 926 | 916 | 182 881 | 73 537 | 581 844 |
| Total | 8 048 | 1 970 | 1 386 | 238 353 | 182 533 | 1 187 956 |
| European Region | ||||||
| A | 3 | 19 832 | 4 772 | 53 731 | 349 476 | 1 807 157 |
| B | 1 054 | 3 970 | 3 261 | 76 943 | 91 262 | 545 314 |
| C | 1 443 | 3 682 | 778 | 51 843 | 41 215 | 278 871 |
| Total | 2 500 | 12 340 | 8 811 | 182 517 | 481 952 | 2 631 342 |
| South-East Asia Region | ||||||
| B | 12 086 | 10 495 | 668 | 160 299 | 109 669 | 750 062 |
| D | 41 619 | 1 464 | 514 | 295 077 | 471 273 | 2 706 111 |
| Total | 53 706 | 4 173 | 1 182 | 455 376 | 580 942 | 3 456 173 |
| Western Pacific Region | ||||||
| A | 0 | 17 408 | 1 140 | 30 403 | 132 085 | 691 968 |
| B | 4 753 | 3 495 | 3 252 | 900 587 | 948 088 | 5 657 323 |
| Total | 4 753 | 6 072 | 4 392 | 930 990 | 1 080 173 | 6 349 291 |
| Unassigned | 27 | 6 901 | 461 | 25 289 | 36 168 | 213 194 |
| Global total | 103 656 | 5 947 | 46 404 | 2 620 339 | 3 379 816 | 20 044 878 |
US$, United States dollar; WHO, World Health Organization.
a Refractive care practitioners include functional clinical refractionists, who spend 100% of their clinical time providing refraction services, and ophthalmic dispensers.
b World Health Organization subregion categories: A: very low child mortality and very low adult mortality; B: low child mortality and low adult mortality; C: low child mortality and high adult mortality; D: high child mortality and high adult mortality; and E: high child mortality and very high adult mortality.
c The total cost was the sum of the cost of educating the new refractive care and ophthalmic dispensing personnel (i.e. the capital costs of education, the cost of educating students and the cost of continuing professional development for 5 years) and of providing new refractive care facilities (i.e. capital costs and 5 years of running costs) needed to deal with the backlog and all incident cases of distance and near vision impairment resulting from uncorrected refractive error.