Research
Refractive Status of Primary School Children in Mopani District, Limpopo Province, South Africa
The purpose of this study was to determine the causes, prevalence, and distribution of ocular dis-orders among rural primary school children in Mopani district of Limpopo Province, South Africa.
Three hundred and eighty eight children aged 8 to 15 years were randomly selected for examination from five randomly selected schools.
The prevalence of hyperopia was higher than that of myopia both in the right and left eyes of males and females among all age groups.
In the total sample, 566 (72.9%) eyes had hyperopia and only 19 (2.5%) had myopia.
Of the entire sample, 191 (24.6%) children had emmetropia.
The study recommend regular vision screening programmes, appropriate referral and vision correction in primary schools in Mopani district.