Prevalence of Vision Loss in North Africa and Middle East in 2020: Magnitude and Temporal Trends

The purpose of the current study was to update the prevalence of blindness and visual impairment (VI) in North Africa and the Middle East (NAME) region and to address the current status of its trends in 2020. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of population-based surveys of eye disease from January, 1980, to October, 2018. We assessed the prevalence of blindness, moderate and severe VI (MSVI), severe VI, moderate VI, mild VI, and presbyopia in NAME region in 2020. In NAME region in 2020, the age-standardised prevalence per 1000, for all ages and sexes, was 0.70 (0.59–0.80) for blindness, 4.31 (3.91–4.72) for MSVI, 0.54 (0.47–0.60) for severe VI, 3.77 (3.38–4.18) for moderate VI, 2.68 (2.42–2.97) for mild VI, and 3.21 (2.29–4.35) for presbyopia. The all-ages and ≥50 year’s age-standardised prevalence were higher in females than in males for all categories of vision impairment. In 2020, 3.09 (2.51–3.75) million people were blind, 21.83 (18.97–24.97) million had MSVI, 2.53 (2.11–3.03) million had severe VI, and 19.30 (16.57–22.27) million had moderate VI. Between 2000 and 2020, age-standardised prevalence of blindness and other categories of visual impairment decreased in all ages and among adults over than 50 years. Although the absolute numbers of people with blindness and MSVI have increased between 1990 and 2020 in NAME region, the overall prevalence and the age standardized prevalence in those aged 50+ years have decreased significantly for the same period.