Retinopathy of prematurity: Addressing the emerging burden in developing countries

Retinopathy of prematurity has emerged and continues to be one of the leading causes of avoidable childhood blindness in low- and middle-income countries over the past few years. A major reason is the lack of adoption of effective and efficient screening for retinopathy of prematurity in various neonatal or newborn units across the countries. At the same time, there is an improvement in the survival rate of high-risk newborn babies which causes a further rise in retinopathy of prematurity. Most of the associated risk factors for retinopathy of prematurity are avoidable, therefore, various preventive strategies can be developed at various levels of healthcare facilities ranging from primary to tertiary level. The integration of appropriate retinopathy of prematurity intervention programs between healthcare departments and partnerships with other non-governmental eye care institutions would be an important as well as critical step to prevent blindness and visual impairment due to retinopathy of prematurity in India and other developing nations.