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Cuban blindness

Cuban blindness

In the early 1990s, around 50,000 Cubans were struck down with sight loss

Witness History · BBC World Service

February 5, 202510m 3s

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Show Notes

In the early 1990s, as Cuba faced a devastating economic crisis, leading to severe food shortages and malnutrition, around 50,000 Cubans were inexplicably struck down with sight loss.

One of America's leading eye specialists, Dr Alfredo Sadun, was invited to the communist-ruled island by Fidel Castrol to help figure out what was going on. Mike Lanchin spoke to Dr Sadun in 2021.

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(Photo: A man undergoes an eye examination in Cuba in1993. Credit: Adalberto Roque/AFP/Getty Images)