An ocular survey of community school children in Madang Province

An ocular survey was done on 6,153 children in 30 community schools in the Madang Province of Papua New Guinea over a two year period. Trachoma was diagnosed in 19.6% of subjects but was mild and asymptomatic in most. 9.6% of trachoma patients had moderate to severe disease, but only 5.3% required treatment. A significant refractive error was noted in 1.4% of subjects, and colour perception deficiency was found in 4.7% of boys and 0.5% of girls. 1.2% of subjects had other ocular abnormalities most of which were minor. Training paramedical workers and students in screening methods for ocular disease is one of the most important aspects of ocular surveys as many will be posted to remote areas of provinces which cannot be visited by an ophthalmologist or ocular survey teams.