RESUMO
Objective:To identify the vision care access in rural primary health institutions and the utilization of vision inspections among rural residents. Methods:Survey data was collected from primary health institutions ( town-ship health centers and village clinics) and households. The descriptive statistics and multivariate regression analysis were applied to analyze data. Results:The household survey data shows that 33. 2% of rural residents self-reported having poor vision, and 22. 1% of rural residents stated that they had ever used vision care (vision screening or vison examinations) . The health facilities survey data shows that 84% of township health centers and 44% of village clinics can provide vision care. The multivariate analysis shows that the vision care access in township health centers is sig-nificantly correlated with the probability of residents’ utilization of vision care, but there is no significant correlation between the provision of vision care in village clinics and its utilization. Conclusions:The vision care access is low in rural China though there is a huge demand therefore. Inadequate supply of primary vision care services in primary health institutions may result in low utilization among rural residents. It is suggested that the government further pro-mote the National Public Health Service Program and strengthen the capacity of primary health facilities to provide primary vision care. To do so, an increase in the utilization of vision care among rural residents can be expected, which would thereby reduce potential losses caused by further vision impairment.