Catey Bunce

Childhood Blindness in West and East Malaysia: Causes of Childhood Blindness and Students' Experiences Catey Bunce

Malaysia is a multi-ethnical country situated in South East Asia. It constitutes of East (Borneo) and West Malaysia (Peninsular). Development has been rapid in the country for the past decades but mainly focusing in the West. This has created a difference in the socio-economic status in the regions. Many studies have been conducted in the world to determine the causes of childhood blindness. However, there is not any that compared the difference of causes of childhood blindness in affluent and poorer regions. There were no systematic reviews and meta analysis being done on these studies due to the fact that there is vast difference in the geographical areas, time and methodologies in these studies. As childhood blindness is one of the main focuses of Vision 2020: The Right to Sight campaign, this title tried to demonstrate the evidence of the association between causes of childhood blindness and socio-economic status. The study also explored the experiences of students studying in the primary school for the visually disabled. The aim was to use these data to help in recommendations that are objective-oriented and regions-specific.