Nigerian government to reduce number of visually impaired people by 25%

The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, said on Saturday the country hopes to reduce the number of visually impaired people by 25 percent before the end of 2020.

The minister also said the Ministry of Health is collaborating with the Ophthalmological Society of Nigeria and other development partners to achieve the target.

According to him, the move will ensure that everyone has access to preventive, curative and rehabilitative eye services at a low cost.

The minister spoke at a press briefing on the World Sight Day put together by the international agency for the prevention of blindness, with a theme: “Call To Action, Vision First.”

He said: “This is in line with our target in the eye health strategic plan to reduce avoidable visual impairment in Nigeria by 25 percent in the year 2020, which is just around the corner.”

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“Very soon we will be working on the WHO document to domesticate this and roll out the processes we need so that we can bring eye care closer to the people.

“Beyond just treating eye health conditions, we want to promote eye care and establish prevention, and that basically happen at the primary level where people are educated on the causes of blindness and can access treatment.

“But with the policy that has just been adopted by states, we are expecting that they will adopt all the provisions of that policy so that they can establish a new eye care team at all secondary centres. The tertiary centres provide specialists eye care for eye conditions.”

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