Prevention of Blindness Due to Retinopathy of Prematurity: A National Movement

Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) has been a blinding disorder and a preventable cause of childhood blindness. With growing interest in pediatric ophthalmology and vitreo-retinal subspecialty, ROP has become increasingly recognized in India. Recently, with rise in number of children admitted to NICU's across India, there has been an increase in number of preterm babies with ROP due to variable neonatal practices. An effort to prevent the disease was taken up by WHO and Ministry of Health & Family Welfare by conducting workshops across India piloted by R.P. Centre, AIIMS. These workshops have gone a long way in spreading awareness amongst both neonatologists and ophthalmologists in paired sessions. Both neonatologists and ophthalmologists complemented each other, discussed ROP prevention and issued ROP screening and good neonatal care guidelines which were different from the American guidelines. Treatment strategies have also undergone a huge change from cryotherapy and laser to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (Anti-VEGF) drugs which have shown promising results, although caution is to be taken due to lack of data on long-term safety. Overall impact of these workshops led to inclusion of ROP in priority list of blindness control programme of Government of India. Still, ROP prevention needs integration of both governmental and non-governmental agencies, each sharing the load in a complementing way aiding in downward trends of ROP cases.