Vision Science in the Developing World: Challenges, Opportunities, Problems, and Example

General problem: For some considerable period of time, world-wide human population has been growing exponentially. During the past several decades, infant and maternal mortality has been reduced, and world population has been aging rapidly. In the "under-developed world", population control is at best rudimentary. Fortunately, recent reports suggest that progress is being made in at least some venues. In parallel, there are limited resources for increasing food production (resulting from inefficient use of available farm lands, exhaustion and erosion of soils, and destruction of forests); inadequate provisions are made for health care and training of health care providers; restricted funds and personnel are available for provision of infrastructure; educational opportunities are limited; and social and health care "nets" are lacking for most individuals living in such settings. The entire situation is becoming ever less tenable.