Disparities in Access to Corneal Tissue in the Developing World

ABSTRACT

Corneal disease is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. For most blinding corneal conditions, keratoplasty is the only way of restoring sight. Unfortunately, access to corneal transplantation is widely variable, most notably due to the lack of suitable donor material. There exists significant disparity between the developed and developing world when it comes to access to cornea tissue, with supply often inversely proportional to burden of disease. The purpose of this review is to identify the current disparities in supply and demand of corneal donor tissue, understand how to access corneal tissue, and propose solutions that promote equitable care for patients with severe corneal disease.

KEYWORDS:

• access
• corneal transplantation
• developing world
• disparity

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.