Department of Neuro sciences and
Artificial Intelligence, MIT, USA Target
Children with congenital cataracts till the
age of 5 years Area
North India
Background
India is home to 25% of the entire blind population
of the world. Many of India’s blind
are children with congenital anomalies of
the eye. While the incidence of congenital
blindness in developed nations such as the
United States of America and United Kingdom
is less than 0.3 per 1000 children, the incidence
in India is 0.81 per 1000.
More than a fifth of the blind children in
India have treatable conditions, primarily
congenital cataracts. The societal support
and quality of life for blind children in
India is extremely poor leading to a life
expectancy that is 15 years shorter than that
of a sighted child.
The
Significance
The project will be significant from many
perspectives, as given below:
Addressing open issues in Neuroscience:
One of the fundamental challenges
in Neuroscience is - understanding how
the human visual system learns to perceive
environmental objects. Through a process
of extensive and continuous exposure,
the brain comes to be able to parse complex
visual scenes as distinct objects. Several
questions about this process remain unanswered.
Project Prakash is well suited to provide
possible answers to all these questions.
A particular strength of this project
is that it affords an opportunity to continuously
follow the development of visual skills
and associated neural markers before the
sight restoration treatment to after.
Development of effective rehabilitation
strategies:
The treated children will exhibit
visual deficits relative to normally reared
children. In view of the fact that we
know little about the nature of the deficits,
we can be at a loss in trying to formulate
training strategies to help children overcome
or compensate for their impairments. Data
from Project Prakash will help Guide the
design of effective rehabilitation procedures.
Understanding mental health
implications of childhood blindness:
Extended visual deprivation can
have a significant impact on long-term
a child’s mental health. An integral
component of a child’s mental health
is the ability to interpret visual information
about other people. Deficiencies in these
skills can have devastating consequences.
Project Prakash gives an opportunity to
understand these mental health implications
and to design techniques to overcome these
impairments.
Enhancing social acceptability
& awareness of childhood blindness:
Childhood blindness carries grave
stigmas in the Indian society and is poorly
understood by the population at large.
Leading to superstitions, dangerous non-medical
remedies, or, often no medical treatment
for the affected children at all.
A beneficial consequence of this project
conducting in India is to increase awareness
regarding this condition and the available
treatment options. Furthermore, by highlighting
the problem of childhood blindness in
high profile international forums and
journals, the project may catalyze the
formulation and launch of additional initiatives
by philanthropic and government agencies
for countering the problem of childhood
blindness all over the world.
Facilitating Education:
Project Prakash will likely provide
valuable tools for education, enhancing
the education of the under-graduate, graduate
and post-doctoral students involved in
the design and running of experimental
studies.
