India was the first country to launch the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) in 1976
The flagship Central government initiative emanated from the Trachoma Control Programme of 1963
It had a goal to reduce the prevalence of blindness from 1.4% to 0.3%
Main causes of blindness are as follows: Cataract (62.6%) Refractive Error (19.70%), Glaucoma (5.80%)
The definition of Blindness under the National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB) is in line with WHO Definition: “Presenting distance visual acuity less than 3/60 (20/400) in the better eye and limitation of field of vision to be less than 10 degrees from centre of fixation”
The nomenclature of the scheme has changed from ‘National Programme for Control of Blindness’ to ‘National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment’
