Cuba - Successful Cuban program for early detection of <rm>Retinitis Pigmentosa

Citation

(2008), "Cuba - Successful Cuban program for early detection of <rm>Retinitis Pigmentosa", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 21 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijhcqa.2008.06221bab.010

Cuba - Successful Cuban program for early detection of <rm>Retinitis Pigmentosa

Article Type: News and views From: International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Volume 21, Issue 2.

CubaSuccessful Cuban program for early detection of Retinitis Pigmentosa

Keywords: Public health, Treatment outcomes, Healthcare screening

The National Program of Retinitis Pigmentosa was an initiative led by Dr Orfilio Pelaez 17 years ago. It consists of a mass examination and multidisciplinary studies on the disease, while providing continuous medical assistance to the people suffering from the condition.

Thanks to the development of a national program for the early diagnosis of retinitis pigmentosa in Cuba, treatments are more efficient and patients have been able to improve the quality of their life.

The director of the program Obel Garcia Baez talked about the success of the program at the 2nd National Workshop on Retinitis Pigmentosa that took place in Havana.

He said the prevalence of the pathology in Cuba is currently higher than a decade earlier going up from 1.4 in 1990, when the program was first carried out to 4.4 in 2004, reported Granma newspaper.

The figure includes 2,718 men and 2,378 women with higher rates in the provinces of Granma, Las Tunas and Camaguey, all in the eastern region of Cuba. The cases belong to 3,053 families and 24.3 percent of all are blood related.

Retinitis pigmentosa is a degenerative, genetic and hereditary disease that causes the progressive death of ocular cells called photoreceptors resulting in increasing loss of eyesight.

For more information: www.cubaheadlines.com