World Sight Day: 1.2bn people visually impaired – Prof Esenwah
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By Steve Oko, Umuahia
No fewer than 1.2 billion people all over the world are said to be visually impaired.
Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academics), Federal University of Technology Owerri, FUTO, Professor Emmanuel Esenwah, disclosed this while delivery a lecture at a symposium to mark the 2025 World Sight Day in Umuahia, Abia State capital.
This is as stakeholders at the symposium expressed worry over the prevalence of glucoma in South East geopolitical zone.
Meanwhile, Abia State Government, has announced the ban of unauthorized free medical outreach in any part of the state.
Delivering lecture at the symposium, Prof. Esenwah higlighted some obstacles to accessing eye care services to include ignorance, shortage of trained eye care workers, harmful practices, superstition, among others.
He recommended health promotion, early detection, living healthy lifestyle and increase in the number of health workers as some of the strategies to tackle the menace.
“All hands must be on deck through an integrated, people-centred approach to deal with the challenge”, he said.
Prof. Esenwah commended the efforts of Abia State Government in improving access to quality eye care to the grassroots, and urged other states to emulate it.
Speaking at the event, Commissioner for Health, Abia State, Professor Ogbonnaya Uche, explained that the State imposition of ban on unauthorized medical outreaches was as a result of a recent unauthorized medical mission in Abiriba community that resulted into loss of lives.
He declared that henceforth, every free medical outreach in the state must get government approval, and must be held in approved health facilities.
“Nobody is permitted to carry out any free medical outreach outside of a hospital, and without permission of the Ministry of Health.
“This is an important information because it is at such unauthorized medical outreaches that fake products are distributed,” he said.
He, urged community leaders not to surrender their subjects for any form of free medical outreach without Government approval.
The Commissioner also announced a ban on media promotion of medical products without validation of efficacy claims.
This, he said was to prevent unsuspecting members of the public from getting deceived about unverified efficacy claims of various medical products especially herbal medicines.
He said that the Director of Medical Services had been directed to notify media outfits in the state to stop running advertorials or jingles without validation of efficacy claims by the Ministry of Health.
“So, the first thing this Government did was to ensure that we have places where people can go and get the proper healthcare,” he said.
He threatened action against “such people who misinform the public on claims that are not verifiable, or evidence-proven”.
He regretted that a lot of people have suffered some complications and even death because of fake and sub-standard products.
Emphasizing the need for regular eye checks, he urged Abia residents to present themselves for comprehensive eye examination at least once every year.
The Commissioner decried the prevalence of eye-related diseases in Nigeria and called for collective action to prevent its spread.
Citing the World Health Organization, he said that the estimated prevalence of blindness for adults above 50 years in Nigeria “is nine out of every 100 adults.”
“Among children and adults, the prevalence of blindness ranges from 0.2% to 0.4%. So if you are looking at the raw numbers, this translates to about 400,000 children in Nigeria. That is a very high amount.
“In Nigeria, we have seen rising numbers of visual impairment. We require urgent, concerted efforts from all stakeholders to complement the efforts of government. “
Speaking earlier, the Administrator, Abia State Eye Health Management Bureau, Dr Mrs Betty Emeka-Obasi, begged Abians make themselves available for eye examination at least during their birthdays.
Commending Governor Alex Otti for the massive support for the agency to promote eye health in the state, she re-stated the agency’s commitment to improving eye care.
“Our vision is to ensure every resident enjoys affordable, standardized eye care; tackling avoidable blindness and promoting lifelong visual wellbeing,” she added.
She said that the agency had upgraded the tertiary clinic at Abia State Specialist Hospital Umuahia and established three new eye centres at General Hospital Amachara; Ugwunabo General Hospital, and Aba General Hospital.
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