This course aims to develop the ability to assess eye care needs of the community primarily using qualitative methods. Emphasis will be also placed on advantages of epidemiological and statistical methods to perform community eye health needs assessment. The course will include the following topics: (1) scope and use of epidemiology (2) measuring the frequency and the effect of disease (3) framing a hypothesis (4) understanding survey methods, sampling methods and data management (5) planning an eye disease screening program (6) descriptive and inferential statistics and (7) development of a survey instrument.