South Africa's cataract surgery rates: why are we not meeting our targets?

Cataract is the leading cause of blindness in South Africa, responsible for about 50% of the prevalence of blindness and identified as a national health priority. The cataract surgery rate (CSR) should be at least 2 000 per million population per year for elimination of cataract blindness. The national CSR target was planned to increase from 1 000 in 2005 to 2 000 in 2010, but since CSRs have failed to reach targets each year, the national target for 2010 was reduced from 2 000 to 1 500. We reviewed data from a situational analysis in 2007 of cataract surgery services to ascertain the obstacles to achieving CSR targets.