As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the World Sight Day, the government says it is working out modalities to provide opthalmologists in rural areas to care for the eyes of rural dwellers.
The minister of Health Dr Osagie Ehanire made the announcement at an event to mark the World Sight Day in Abuja.
He said that making comprehensive eye care more accessible to the majority of Nigerians has the potential to reduce the burden of blindness which would also lead to an increase in the Gross Domestic Product(GDP) further enhancing the economic growth of this great nation of ours.
“The Federal Ministry of Health thus aims to achieve this through the integration of Primary Eye Care (PEC) into the Primary Health Care (PHC) in our health system in the country thus reaching out to the underserved in the remote areas of this country.This would also help to improve accessibility of women and the elderly to eye care since they are the most affected”. Dr Ehanire said.
He also said that it was important to also draw attention to eye health and sensitise the populace on the need for regular eye checks.
“The theme for this year’s world sight day “love your eyes” emphasizes the need for early diagnosis of eye diseases by eye health professionals. This is because eyes availability of therapeutic options and the monitoring of responses means that blindness from these diseases and its negative impact on the quality of life and productivity of individuals could be curbed. Furthermore, We are all aware of the pandemic of COVID-19, the role of each person plays in loving his/her eyes cannot be overemphasized. This is because the eyes as windows to the body help in transmission of the disease hence one of the non pharmacological control of the disease behooves on us to reduce the hand-eye contact“. He said.
He also noted that the day serves as a reminder for all to reduce or break the transmission of eye disease.
“Vision is important in the socio-economic development of a people. Nigeria with other member states at the United Nations General Assembly recently adopted the vision for everyone; accelerating action to achieve the sustainable development goals resolution, aimed at committing the international community to eye health for the 1.1 billion people living with preventable sight loss by 2030.It thus enshrines eye health as part of the UN sustainable development goals”. He said.
He noted that “as part of its commitment to preventing avoidable vision loss, the country developed the National Eye Health policy 2019; its first comprehensive national eye health policy, which was adopted by states and the Federal Capital Territory. It provides a framework for collective direction to scale up eye care delivery at all levels of care, providing an interface for all stakeholders to galvanize action for development in eye care and a sustainable approach to achieving equitable access to quality eye care and strengthen Nigeria’s health system towards Universal Health Coverage”.
Dr Ehanire however lamented that in a country like Nigeria, with a prevalence of 0.78% for blindness and 84% of these blinding diseases are avoidable with possible causes like cataract,glaucoma,refractive errors,uncorrected apahkia, harmful traditional eye practices,corneal opacities and NTDs like trachoma and onchocerciasis,lack of awareness and inaccessibility of eye care services are possible reasons why many Nigerians still remain visually impaired as they still seek unorthodox eye care which leads to disastrous treatment outcomes.
He said that Primary Eye Care(PEC) which is an integrated, participatory and inclusive eye health component of primary health care consisting of preventive, curative and rehabilitative services empowers the people to participate in taking responsibility for their own eye health, preventing and treating conditions that may lead to visual loss, as well as rehabilitation of those who are already blind. We believe that the integration of PEC into PHC will potentially change the pattern of eye care services in Nigeria to a level where the nationwide blindness prevention efforts would start from the grassroots instead of from the urban hospitals as is the case today.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary Ministry of Health, Mr. Mamuda Mamman,said that the prevalence of blindness in Nigeria is 0.78% with cataract, glaucoma, refractive errors, harmful traditional eye practices and corneal opacities as the leading causes of preventable blindness.
“These preventable blinding conditions can be reduced significantly through public awareness and ease of accessibility to eye care professionals thus encouraging early treatment of the diseases.
“Fortunately, the ministry has taken this a priority through steps aimed at integrating Primary Eye Care (PEC) into Primary Health Care (PHC) thus increasing accessibility to eye care and encouraging promotive and preventive eye health especially in the rural areas that the PHC serves”. Mr. Mamman said.
He also appreciated the professional organizations, Sightsavers international and other donor agencies for supporting the Federal Ministry of Health to commemorate this year’s world sight day.
On her part, the National Advisor Inclusive Eye Health, Nigeria, Christoffel-Blindenmission Christian Blind Mission, CBM, Dilichukwu Aniemeka, said that the importance of eye health cannot be overemphasized, as at least 1 billion people have a vision impairment that could have been prevented or are yet to be addressed globally.
She said that “Approximately 80% of these individuals live in low and middle-income countries such as Nigeria. This number is expected to increase owing to population growth and ageing”.
“CBM recognizes the gap in eye health service delivery in Nigeria, and aligns with the National Eye health policy to develop strategies to strengthen our eye health systems. We are mobilizing resources to improve eye health coverage, make these services affordable and acceptable to the people at a cost that will not cause impoverishment. However, we can do more!“. Aniemeka said.
Adding that everyone has a role to play in creating awareness and educating the general public on blindness and visual impairment.
The theme for this year’s World Sight Day is “love your eyes”.
The day affords Nigerians the opportunity to get their eyes tested.
