High-volume surgery in developing countries

Cataract remains the world's leading cause of blindness. In the developing world, many eye clinics provide cataract surgery for only a small proportion of those in need. This is partly because of low demand-caused by barriers related to awareness, bad services, cost, and distance--and partly because of deficiencies in the supply of services. This article reviews innovations in cataract surgery in poor countries that are intended to reverse this trend.

Increasing the number of operations, through close involvement with the community, and improved surgical outcomes, enables the cost of surgery to be reduced, leading to further growth in volume. Recent innovations, such as low-cost intraocular lenses, and small-incision extracapsular cataract extraction, have contributed to improving the results of surgery without increasing the costs. Effective management enables the delivery of increasing the numbers of operations, while at the same time improving outcomes and controlling costs.