As the world sets sight on marking this year’s World Sight Day, experts have continued to advocate the need for increase in access to eye care to put a stop to avoidable blindness. Woman Editor, TEMITOPE DAVID-ADEGBOYE, writes…
Thursday, October 9, is World Sight Day – a day set aside by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) to draw attention of the world to the different eye conditions that leads to blindness and visual impairment.
‘Universal Eye Health: No More Avoidable Blindness’ is the theme for this year’s edition.
According to Principal Optometrist, Florida Eye Clinic, Abuja, Dr. Anene Chukwuemeka, this year’s theme is apt, as it seeks to promote eye health for all.
Need for experts at grassroots
To achieve this, Chukwuemeka advocates the need to increase access to eye care, not only in state capitals and big cities, but in every corner of this country. He added that most local government headquarters could not boast of an average eye clinic with qualified eye care professionals.
“Most citizens are blind today because they cannot gain access to good eye care; so they patronise quacks and herbalists for their eye care needs. Therefore, to ensure universal eye health and say “no more avoidable blindness”, governments, both at the state and federal levels, are encouraged to integrate eye care in the primary healthcare system and establish at least one eye clinic in each of the 776 local government areas of the federation, with clear-cut referral system to the next level of eye care.
“Those clinics should be furnished with basic equipment for prompt clinical diagnosis, management or referral, as the case may be. It is equally important to train and employ more eye care personnel, especially optometrists, who are primary eye care professionals, to run such clinics,” Chukwuemeka said.
Creating awareness
In Nigeria, different professionals involved in eye care (optometrists, ophthalmologists, ophthalmic nurses) and their partners plan to organise different programmes, which include walks, visual screenings, media talk shows, advocacy visits to government functionaries and influential people. This is aimed at creating awareness of these blinding diseases among the populace, promoting at least annual eye examination by qualified personnel and advocating for better eye care services and access in the country.
On the second Thursday of every year, stakeholders are expected to customise this ‘call to action’ theme to specific eye disease prevalent in their areas; for instance, it could be ‘no more cataract’, ‘no more refractive error’ or ‘no more low vision’.
Advocacy directed at governments must be geared towards addressing areas identified by IAPB, as intervention is needed to usher in universal eye health.
Those areas include:
1. Collection of better evidence on the magnitude and prevalence of blindness prevention.
2. Training of more eye care professionals.
3. Provision of comprehensive eye care services and integration of eye care into existing health provision and systems.
4. Identification and elimination of social and economic obstacles, particularly for the poor and the marginalised.
WHO stats
Statistics from WHO indicates that approximately 285 million people worldwide live with low vision and blindness. Of these, 39 million people are blind and 246 million have moderate or severe visual impairment.
It is necessary to point out that about 90 per cent of blind people live in low-income countries. The good news is that 80 per cent of visual impairment is avoidable, readily treatable and/or preventable.
The eye conditions as identified by WHO/IAPB – Vision 2020 – that can lead to avoidable blindness are cataract, trachoma, refractive error, low vision, diabetic retinopathy, childhood blindness, vitamin A deficiency, onchocerciasis, age-related macular degeneration and glaucoma.
Last line
The national and state chapters of Nigerian Optometric Association (NOA) have released plans and guidelines towards ensuring that this year’s celebration makes a great impact in the lives of the people and creates a lasting impression in their minds.
NOA wants the public to know the importance of annual eye examination and the need to seek professional eye care whenever in need.
