Israel was once the undisputed world leader in preventing blindness. Between 1999 and 2010, rates of preventable blindness were slashed by more than half, from 33.8 cases per 100,000 residents to 14.8. No other country came close. Prof. Michael Belkin of the Goldschleger Eye Research Institute at Tel Aviv University called the achievement unparalleled, crediting community based programmes, universal access through the kupot holim, and early intervention in diabetes clinics that paid for themselves within two years.

That was then. A landmark study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology tracked blindness incidence across the following decade and found that progress had stalled. Between 2009 and 2020, the overall rate fell a further 24.9%, but the meaningful decline occurred before 2014. After that, the annual improvement flattened to a statistically insignificant 0.42%. For the four main preventable causes of blindness, age related macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataract and optic atrophy, the researchers concluded that existing methods may have reached saturation. Only diabetic retinopathy continued to decline, and even that rate of improvement was attenuating.

Israel is now caught between its own success and a demographic tide that threatens to overwhelm it. The population is projected to approach 16 million by 2050, with the number of adults aged 65 and over more than doubling. Cataract cases alone are expected to nearly triple. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health’s 2023 Diabetes Status Report reveals that 696,121 Israelis are registered diabetic, one in three people aged 65 and above, with 1.1% of........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)