[01] Manal Mohamed Omran, Primary Health Care Services Sector, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, UAE. [02] Hamid Y. Hussein, Health Affairs Department, Primary Health Care Services Sector, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, UAE. [03] Waleed Al Faisal, Health Affairs Department, Primary Health Care Services Sector, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, UAE. [04] Nusaiba Al Behandy, Health Affairs Department, Primary Health Care Services Sector, Dubai Health Authority, Dubai, UAE. [05] Noora Elkouka, Noor Dubai Foundation, Dubai, UAE.

Background: Amblyopia and strabismus can reduce quality of life, function, and school performance. Identification of vision problems as early as possible could help identify children who might benefit from early interventions. Objectives: To identify children who are visually impaired, children with strabismus and/or amblyopia or at risk of developing them. Methodology: A cross sectional study was carried out on randomly selected sample of 316 students, age range is 6-11 Years, and grades are 1 and 5. Visual assessment has been carried out by three well trained and experienced optometrists from Dubai Hospital and Primary Health Care at Dubai Health Authority. Assessment setting was Al Sadiq Private school clinic. Two clinics was equiped by Noor Dubai, school clinic and mobile clinic installed in school for two successive days (it is fully furnished with vision assessment equipments). Results: The study showed that about 38.9% of total sample visually assessed were having error of refraction. The common errors of refraction identified were myopia (9.8%), hypermetropia (4.9%), and astigmatism (43.9%). There are number of eye morbidities detected during visual screening like nyestagmous (0.3%), strabismus (0.6%), Cataract (0.3%) and Conjunctivitis 0.3%). All cases were referred for further intervention. Conclusions: The study concluded that errors of refractions and other eye morbidities are tremendously prevalent among younger age groups of students. National wise visual impairment screening and early eye morbidities detection need to be considered at the levels of policy and decision making. It is strongly recommended that they are listed as one of the mandatory screening for children national wise.

Visual Impairment, Screening, Intervention, Schooling Kids, Dubai

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