Near vision data and near correction requirements from community eye health programmes in nine countries

Background Recent estimates of global prevalence of uncorrected presbyopia range from 510 to 826 million. There is a shortage of primary data regarding Near Visual Impairment (NVI) magnitude. Methods Near visual acuity (NVA) and NVI data was collected from over 388,000 people aged 35 or over across 9 countries, within Community Eye Health programmes between January 2022 and June 2023. In Kenya ( n = 34,328), dioptric power of required near correction was also recorded, and any association with age, gender or level of NVA was assessed via linear regression model. Results 146,801 of 388,939 people failed initial near vision screening (37.74%, 95% CI 37.59–37.89%), with significantly higher prevalence of NVI in Sub-Saharan Africa than South Asia. Of those with distance acuity 6/12 or better, 27.97% failed (95% CI 27.81–28.13%) with evidence of difference between genders ( p