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Approximately 40 million people in the world are blind and another 100 million have substantial visual impairment. The principal causes of blindness and visual disability are quite distinct in developed as compared with developing countries, and where they overlap in name (e.g., cataract and glaucoma), the prevailing epidemiology is very different. In underdeveloped settings, cataract, glaucoma, trachoma, onchocerciasis, vitamin A deficiency, and other related sources of childhood blindness predominate as the causes of blindness. Other important causes include leprosy, corneal scarring from infection, and trauma. In the most affected countries of Africa and Asia, the prevalence of blindness may be
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