Over 2.5 million Nigerians aged 40 blinded by glaucoma in Nigeria---Stastitics

...as the world celebrate 'Sight Day'

The eyes no doubt are one of the numerous organs in the human body, whose function is very vital given its role of providing sight. Sadly, many people pay little attention to eye health, let alone eye exam. Hence, protecting it from developing any impairment is one issue "Vision 2020: The Right to Sight", is a global advocacy effort to prevent blindness which was created by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) is built on. This call is coming at a time as Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark World Sight Day (held on second Thursday in October).

In the light of this, medical experts in the country have called on Nigerians to visit their physician frequently to avoid developing one form of visual impairment or the other as global attention on blindness, visual impairment and rehabilitation of the visually impaired is brought to the fore.

In an interview with BusinessDay, Adeola Onakoya, Consultant Ophthalmologist, college of medicine, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), said that the global target was to ultimately reduce blindness prevalence to less than 0.5 percent in all countries in keeping with the Vision 2020; The Right to Sight.

Onakoya disclosed that the new data based on the world population of 2002 showed a reduction in the number of people who are blind or visually impaired, in particular, those who are blind because of infectious causes. However, there is an increase in the number of people who are blind or visually impaired due to increasing longevity and the increase of non-communicable chronic diseases.

According to the Consultant Ophthalmologist, “the main causes of visual impairment include cataract, glaucoma, refractive errors and low vision, childhood blindness, diabetic retinopathy, age related macular degeneration, genetic eye diseases as well as trachoma (which is caused by Chlamydia trachomatis and is spread by direct contact with eye, nose, and throat secretions from affected individuals, or contact with inanimate objects such as towels and/or washcloths) and Onchocerciasis (river blindness).”

She revealed that the increase of diabetes among many population groups has caused diabetic retinopathy to be added to the priority list while glaucoma, an eye disease of the nerves known for centuries, remains on the public health agenda due to difficulties in its early diagnosis and frequent necessity of lifelong treatment as well as uncorrected refractive errors which is now an emerging important cause of visual impairment.

For Kunle Hassan, National President, Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria (OSN), much advocacy is made on glaucoma because it causes progressive damage of the optic nerve at the point where it leaves the eyes which carries visual information to the brain affected. Hassan stated that glaucoma is the second cause of irreversible blindness globally and the main cause of blindness in Nigeria progresses without warning or obvious symptoms to the patient.

In his words: “Certain factors such as high intraocular pressure (IOP), family history, ethnic background (mostly blacks), age or optic nerve appearance, have been implicated in people who develop glaucoma. However, most Nigerians who visit eye centres for screening more often than not present the later stage.”

According to a survey conducted in Nigeria in 2007, over 16.7 percent (over 2.5 million) of Nigerians aged 40 years were suffering from glaucoma and more Nigerians at present are predisposed to the disease giving lack of awareness of the disease. Already, an estimated 80 million people is anticipated to suffer from glaucoma globally by the year 2020 if awareness and continuous eye screening is not done. In addition, approximately 314 million people worldwide live with low vision and blindness. Of this number, 45 million people are blind and 269 million have low vision.

Giving these alarming figures, there is no gain saying that periodic eye and vision examinations are an important part of preventive health care. Many eye and vision problems have no obvious signs or symptoms. As a result, individuals are often unaware that problems exist.

Forging a way forward for Nigerians, Onakoya stated that for Nigerians who have no family history of eye defect/ disease, they should visit an optometrist /ophthalmologist at least once a year so as to detect any eye disease which may further lead to visual impairment if not detected in time.

In her words “Some problems might not be easily found until they come to late stage. But they can be easily detected through certain eye checks. In other words, most of these eye problems can be well prevented or slowed down if detected at early stage. On the whole, regular eye exam can do people a lot of benefits. But what should the frequency be. People who are younger than forty should get one eye exam at least annually as annual check is needed as they age.”

BY Alexander Chiejina