By joshua 
Success Nwogu
Nigeria’s Country Director, Sightsavers, (an international development organisation) Sunday Isiyaku, has said that globally, there are 2.2 billion people with a vision impairment.
He added that of these, at least 1 billion people have a vision impairment or blindness that could have been prevented or is yet to be addressed.
In a statement made available on Thursday, he said this burden weighs more heavily on poorer countries, and on marginalised communities, adding that projections show that global demand for eye care is set to surge in the coming years.
According to him, the Federal Government of Nigeria had inaugurated its first national eye health policy to tackle growing problems of avoidable blindness and vision impairment in the country.
He added that in 2020, there were an estimated 24 million people with vision loss in Nigeria, including 1.3 million who were blind.
He stated that the policy set out guidance and commitments needed to reduce the eye health crisis and was created in conjunction with Sightsavers.
Isiyaku said, “It was announced at a Ministry of Health event at Sheraton Hotels and Towers in Abuja, that highlighted the global eye health burden and World Health Organization’s World Report on Vision. The policy document formalises the need to increase eye health funding and recommendations for government, states, and sector professionals to improve eye care and ensure no one is left behind when it comes to eye health.
“If we are to tackle the eye health burden in Nigeria, everyone has a part to play to ensure that everyone, everywhere has access to the eye care they need – from government and state health officials to eye health professionals and organisations like Sightsavers. This policy will help provide quality eye health services for all Nigerians and reduce the social and economic impact that vision impairments cause.”
“The new policy is a much-needed investment in eye health, and priority areas include: rolling out the policy to all 36 Nigerian states; creating state eye health coordination teams to lead on implementation; advanced training for eye health professionals; ensuring affordable service is accessible for everyone; and collaborating with academic, public-private and health partners to improve awareness, service delivery and reduce financial dependency on development organisations.
“The new policy will mean more people like Khadijah, a six-year-old child who couldn’t see to read, write or view the board at school, can be helped. Through her work as a teacher and a Sightsavers child eye health initiative in Nigeria, Khadijah’s mother, Shafa, was trained in basic eye health screening and realised her daughter had vision impairment. Khadijah was diagnosed with cataracts and received free surgery; she can now see her family properly, read and write, and her mother sees a bright future for her.
“At the event, the Ministry of Health speakers explained that preventable eye health conditions could be greatly reduced through public awareness and easy access to services. A representative for the Honourable Commissioners of Health in Nigeria expressed commitment, on behalf of all states, to develop actions plans to achieve universal health coverage for eye health.”
Isiyaku revealed that Sightsavers, is an international organisation that works in more than 30 low and middle-income countries to end avoidable blindness, treat and eliminate neglected tropical diseases, and promote equality of opportunity for people with disabilities.
He added that Sightsavers ‘vision is of a world where no one is blind from avoidable causes and people with disabilities participate equally in society, adding that it is a registered UK charity (Registered charity numbers 207544 and SC038110).
He also stated that in the seven decades since its foundation, Sightsavers has supported more than 1.2 billion treatments for neglected tropical diseases; carried out more than 7.7 million cataract operations to restore sight; carried out more than 196 million eye examinations, and dispensed more than 4.6 million glasses.
According to him, Sightsavers holds Independent Research Organisation (IRO) status and claimed that such had made them one of the only international non-governmental organisations to hold this status in the UK.
He also said that Sightsavers conducts high-quality research to address global gaps in knowledge and put research findings into practice by feeding them back into the design of programmes. .. Continue reading