{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,29]],"date-time":"2026-10-29T23:00:33Z","timestamp":1793314833484,"version":"4.5.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Springer Science and Business Media LLC","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,19]],"date-time":"2026-01-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1768780800000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"},{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,21]],"date-time":"2026-01-21T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1768953600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":2,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0"}],"funder":[{"name":"Universit\u00e4tsmedizin Greifswald"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["link.springer.com"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sci Rep"],"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Childhood cataract is a leading cause of avoidable blindness in sub-Saharan Africa, but affected children rarely self-present. Therefore, programs must fund proactive case-finding and ongoing follow-up. We quantified, from a provider perspective, the costs of identification, surgery, follow-up, and rehabilitation in Kinshasa, DRC. We analyzed costs (March 2024) of a community-embedded program linked with hospital services. The pathway from screening to bilateral surgery and two-year follow-up was mapped. Costs (2024 USD) from hospital and payroll data and interviews were cross-checked regionally. A step-fixed model captured screening expansion; patient-incurred costs were excluded. The network held 32 screenings for ~\u2009134,400 people annually, identifying 38 children (28.3\/100,000). Unit costs were $0.08 per person screened and $268.4\u2009\u00b1\u200953.7 per child (30.7%) identified; surgery $529 per child (60.5%); follow-up $77\u2009\u00b1\u200915.4 (8.8%). Average continuum cost was $875\u2009\u00b1\u200969.1 per child. Treating 38 children cost $33,245\u2009\u00b1\u20092,625.2 annually. Scaling to 1,000,000 people required eight teams, identifying 283 children at a program cost of $253,223\u2009\u00b1\u200920,678. Comprehensive pediatric cataract care is feasible at ~$875 per child when budgets include community case-finding, coordination, and follow-up alongside consumables and theatre. Volunteer-reliant case-finding and rehabilitation require funded core staff for stability. These data provide a pragmatic template for scaling programs in low-resource settings.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-025-32417-9","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,19]],"date-time":"2026-01-19T19:55:35Z","timestamp":1768852535000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Provider-perspective cost analysis of comprehensive pediatric cataract management in a low-income setting"],"prefix":"10.1038","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Broder","family":"Poschkamp","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rainald","family":"Duerksen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Motema Malemo","family":"Jaspe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Edith","family":"Mukwanseke","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Stahl","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rudolf","family":"Guthoff","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Astrid","family":"Moanda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ellen Catrin","family":"Steinau","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Janvier Kilangalanga","family":"Ngoy","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Steffen","family":"Fle\u00dfa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"32417_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e489","DOI":"10.1016\/S2214-109X(20)30488-5","volume":"9","author":"MJ Burton","year":"2021","unstructured":"Burton, M. 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