R. S. Sitorus, M. S. Abidin, B. Lorenz, J. Prihartono 204 Purpose: To estimate the prevalence of retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), an avoidable cause of childhood blindness, in Schools for the Blind students representative of rural areas of communities of Java Island, Indonesia. Methods: Four-hundred and seventy-nine of a total of 500 students from five Schools for the Blind in Java Island, Indonesia, were examined using the standard WHO / PBL eye examination record for blindness and low vision protocol. Data were analyzed for those aged less than 16 years or the onset of visual loss less than 16 years. Data on social demography and medical history factors were collected. ROP was defined when cicatrical retinal detachment or retinal tractional dates from infancy, or a history of prematurity or low birth weight and ocular findings consistent with this diagnosis were identified. Results: Most of the students (95%) were blind (BL); 4.6% had severe visual impairment (SVI) and 0.4% visual impairment (VI). ROP was identified in only 5 of 479 (1.1%) cases. This low prevalence is in accordance with other School for the Blind studies in India (0.5%) and China (1.9%), but is in contrast to those in industrialized countries such as UK (18%) and USA (8–19%). Conclusions: The low incidence of ROP found in our study is most likely the result of the high mortality rate of premature children in the rural areas of Indonesia like in other developing countries. This finding highlights the need for a better interaction between primary and secondary health care and the spe- cialist tertiary centers (and their intensive neonatal care services), to provide high coverage referral access for high risk mothers and / or premature or low- birth weight infants. This may help to, first, increase the survival rate of this group of babies, and then, as a next step, to install adequate screening programs by pediatric ophthalmologists and retina specialists to diagnose and treat ROP in due time. Key words: retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), School for the Blind, Indonesia, rural area R. S. Sitorus 1 *, M. S. Abidin 1 , B. Lorenz 3 , J. Prihartono 2 1 University of Indonesia, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Ophthalmology 2 Department of Medical Community 3 Department of Pediatric Ophthalmology, Strabology and Ophthalmogenetics, University of Regensburg, Germany Prevalence of ROP in Indonesia: results from School for the Blind studies in Java Island ACTA MEDICA LITUANICA. 2006. VOLUME 13 No. 3. P. 204–206 © Lietuvos mokslų akademija, 2006 © Lietuvos mokslų akademijos leidykla, 2006 INTRODUCTION Retinopathy of prematurity is characterized by abnormal vascular development of retina in premature infants. In its more severe forms, it results in severe visual impair- ment or blindness, both of which carry a high financial cost for the community but also a high individual cost by affecting the normal motor, language, conceptual, and social development of the child, which are amplified when the child commences formal education. The Global Initiative of Avoidable Blindness (1) tar- gets ROP for prevention and treatment in an effort to reduce the prevalence of childhood blindness. In addi- tion, the World Health Organization’s: Vision 2020 Pro- gram has identified ROP as an important cause of blind- ness in both high and middle income countries. In the United Sates, ROP remains the second most common cause of childhood blindness. The prevalence of blindness in children is estimated to range from 0.2 to 0.3 per 1000 children in develo- ped countries and 1.0 to 1.5 per 1000 children in de- veloping countries (Foster A, Gilbert C. Epidemiology of childhood blindness. Eye 1992; 6: 173–6). * Corresponding author. E-mail: ritasito@yahoo.com