KARACHI: Pakistan has recorded a dramatic reduction in blindness rates, from 1.78 percent in 1990 to just 0.5 percent today, according to a study by one of the country’s leading non-profit eye hospitals, which credited decades of joint effort by public and private stakeholders for the improvement.
Founded in 1985, the Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital provides free and subsidized eye care through a national network of hospitals and outreach programs. The organization’s extensive fieldwork, data collection, and partnerships with government health departments have made it a key reference point for national blindness statistics and trends.
Pakistan’s health experts have long cited preventable eye diseases, including cataracts, trachoma and diabetic retinopathy, as a major cause of disability. But as the population grows and life expectancy rises, genetic disorders and lifestyle-related conditions are expected to form a growing share of the country’s vision loss burden, experts warned on Thursday.
Speaking at an event on World Sight Day, which falls on Oct. 9 each year, prominent ophthalmologist Dr. Tayyab Afghani said while the country’s success against avoidable blindness was encouraging, the focus must now shift toward new and complex causes of vision loss.
“Genetic diseases are increasingly becoming a significant cause of blindness in Pakistan,” he said. “To address this, Al-Shifa Trust has established the country’s first ophthalmic genetics center, focused on early detection through community health education, qualified genetic counselling, and gene analysis.”
Afghani also warned that lifestyle factors such as diabetes and excessive screen time were fueling a rise in eye disorders among Pakistanis, particularly children.
“Apart from diabetes, myopia has reached epidemic levels in Pakistan and worldwide,” he said, urging families to limit children’s exposure to screens and promote regular eye exams through school screening programs.
Afghani called on the government to expand preventive eye care and rural infrastructure, warning that rising disease burdens could overwhelm public hospitals.
“The lack of trained specialists and unequal distribution of services continue to push low-income households toward expensive private treatment,” he said. “This leads to long-term economic and social impacts such as increased poverty and reduced productivity.”
To date, the Al-Shifa Trust has screened over three million children for vision-related issues nationwide. The charity runs six hospitals in Rawalpindi, Muzaffarabad, Chakwal, Kohat, Sukkur and Gilgit, and plans to open a Lahore branch by 2027. It holds more than 150 free eye camps annually, treating over 900,000 patients and performing 73,000 surgeries each year, nearly 80 percent of them free of cost.
In Karachi, the Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS) marked World Sight Day with an awareness walk and seminar, where experts warned that millions of Pakistanis continue to live with untreated eye conditions.
Professor Jehan Ara Hasan, Pro-Vice Chancellor at DUHS, said that nearly 40 million people in Pakistan suffer from various eye diseases, citing national survey data.
“According to available data, 49 percent of blindness cases are caused by cataract, while the remaining 51 percent are due to other causes such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and macular degeneration,” she said.
Hasan said that despite the high prevalence of diabetes in Pakistan, many patients still do not undergo regular retinal examinations, which are essential for those above forty.
“According to global statistics, there are approximately 39 million blind people worldwide, while 285 million people suffer from visual impairment or other vision-related disorders,” she added.
According to the Pakistan Survey Report 2022, around 485,000 people in the country are completely blind, while nine million have weak eyesight and require corrective glasses.
