11.1 Background

Paediatric ophthalmology is a subspecialty that encompasses a very broad group of eye disorders that affect children. It is difficult given the breadth of the specialty to decide on research priorities. There are wide areas of overlap with disease affecting adults and many current areas of research such as molecular genetics, wound healing, stem cell biology and tissue transplantation are important to all areas of ophthalmology and will not be considered here.

Research priorities in paediatric ophthalmology should include disorders that relate either to the major causes of childhood blindness or to less severe disorders, such as amblyopia and strabismus, that consume a large amount of health service resources. There is also a need for more information about the prevalence of childhood visual impairment, the major causes, and best strategies for delivering high quality ophthalmologic services for children.

   11.2 Research Potential