Eye care in South Asia, 1988–2018: developments, achievements and future challenges

South Asia is a unique geopolitical region which covers 3.4% of the world’s surface area and supports 25% of the world’s population (1.749 billion). It hosts the second (India), sixth (Pakistan) and the eighth (Bangladesh) most populous countries in the world. The South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) was established in 1985 and currently has eight Member States. SAARC accounts for a tenth of the global economy and member countries span two World Health Organization (WHO) regions: Eastern Mediterranean (Afghanistan, Pakistan) and South East Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka). Over the past three decades, South Asia has faced and withstood many human and natural disasters, including a tsunami, devastating cyclones, annual floods, earthquakes, landslides, riots, civil disturbances, wars and terrorist strikes.