Over 1.5m Nigerians Suffering Vision Impairment, Says FG

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja

The federal government has said that a Blindness and Vision Impairment Survey conducted in Nigeria reported that 0.78 percent of citizens (over 1.5 million) of all ages are currently blind.
The National Coordinator, National Eye Health Programme, Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Okolo Oteri, said that glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible vision loss globally and in Nigeria.

She stated this at a training workshop for key stakeholders for The Nigeria Glaucoma Guideline and Toolkit last Friday.
According to health experts, glaucoma is a chronic but treatable condition which requires lifelong treatment and follow-up.
Oteri said, “the Nigeria Blindness and Vision Impairment Survey reported that 0.78% of Nigerians of all ages are blind”.

She said that blindness increased significantly with illiteracy and age, with 1.13 million (4.2 percent) Nigerians over 40 years old blind.
The coordinator said glaucoma was the second most common cause of blindness, with a prevalence of 5 percent and accounting for 16.7 percent of the burden of blindness. Only 5.6 percent knew they had the disease in the Nigeria survey, and 20 percent were already blind.

She also explained that glaucoma was also responsible for 3.9 percent of severe vision impairment (VI), 2 percent of moderate VI and 1 percent of mild VI. Open-angle glaucoma is the commonest (86 percent) form of glaucoma in Nigerians, with angle closure accounting for 14 percent.
Oteri said that the training workshop marks a symbolic federal government’s commitment to the implementation of the National Eye Health Policy and the ambitious plans for Eye Health in Nigeria.
Speaking on the heightened concern over glaucoma cases, Oteri said that the disease was not one of the priority diseases for the Vision 2020 initiative in lower and middle-income countries due to the high prevalence of other avoidable blinding diseases like cataracts, onchocerciasis, trachoma and childhood blindness including Vitamin A deficiency.

“However, demographic shifts from improved living conditions and improved life expectancy have also resulted in a higher proportion of blindness due to diseases like glaucoma associated with age,” she said.
Speaking on the development of the guideline and toolkit, Oteri said the initiative was a product of rigorous systematic review and contributions of a wide range of stakeholders including patient support groups, technical experts and organizations involved in glaucoma care.
She said the intention is not to dictate the care of a particular patient or take the place of an eye care provider but that targeted case detection and screening will reduce the prevalence of blindness due to glaucoma.

Oteri however expressed worry that glaucoma has not received the needed level of support from both government, local and international donors, stressing that collective action, including integrated patient-focused care, is therefore required to tackle glaucoma.

She said: “The eye health promotion, blindness prevention, treatment, and rehabilitative needs of patients with glaucoma are not being met in Nigeria. Inherent inequalities in access to effective, safe, people-centred, timely, equitable, integrated, and efficient glaucoma services remain a problem.

“This is worsened by socio-economic deprivation leading to a lack of awareness of glaucoma, late presentation, lack of access to eye care services and medications, and poor adherence to treatment and follow-up. Religious and cultural beliefs also enable acceptance of blindness as a part of ageing.

“Direct and indirect costs associated with seeking care and treatment are also challenges.  Inadequate eye care infrastructure and equipment, health system inefficiencies and bottlenecks might also make patients’ contact with the system complicated and unpleasant. An efficient care pathway is therefore critical for glaucoma.”