iarjmcrIARJMCRIARJMCR2709-3220https://doi.org/10.47310/iarjmcr.2020.v01i01.009Bilateral visual impairment in children in African hospitals: About 145 children at the Institute of African Tropical OphthalmologyThéraJPTiamaJMKonipoALow vision and blindness define the two levels of visual impairment. They are a real public health problem. World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 15 million children under the age of 15 years are affected by this impediment. Africa and Asia are the most affected. The aim of our study was to determine the causes of visual impairment in children at the Institute of African Tropical Ophthalmology (IOTA) located in Bamako (Mali). Materials and methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study covering 05 years. Our study included all children diagnosed with visual impairment with a complete medical file from January, 1st 2015 to December, 31st 2019. WHO International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) was used to define the level of visual impairment. Results: We collected 145 cases of children aged 0 to 15 years with bilateral visual impairment out of a total of 2,500 consultations during the study period. The frequency of visual impairment accounted for 5.8%. Children under 5 were predominant with 44.14%. The sex-ratio was 1.16. According to WHO classification, low vision (category I and II) represented 37.93% (n = 55); and blindness (grade III, IV, V) was 62.02%. The anatomical site of the lesions was dominated by corneal lesions with 26.9%. Conclusion: Childhood blindness and low vision still remain a public health problem in our countries. In our study, corneal damage related to malnutrition was the most common.