Achieving universal optic health coverage remains our top priority – FG

By Ihesiulo Grace

8 October 2019

News

As Nigeria joins the rest of the world to mark the World Sight Day, the Federal government has revealed that achieving universal optic health through Universal Health Coverage has remained its top priority.

Speaking during a stakeholders meeting organized to mark the World Sight Day with the theme: ‘’Vision First, Beyond Vision 2020’’ in Abuja on Monday, the minister of health Dr. Osagie Ehanire said that the FG through the ministry of health and its various agencies and departments intends to achieve this by creating public awareness on eye health.

Represented by Mr. Abdullazizi Abdullahi, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, the minister revealed government core target to include; people with disabilities, children, women, the unreached and under-served who he lamented are usually left behind when issues of health are discussed.

‘’The unreached, underserved who are often left behind when issues of health and development are often discussed are at the core of this drive.

They include people with disabilities, children, women, the elderly, youth, the urban poor and people in rural areas. It is therefore imperative that leadership and governance at all levels advocate for and mobilize resources to improve health coverage.

‘’ The National Strategic Health Development Plan 2018-22 guides national and sub national governments on health sector priorities, identifying multi sectoral collaborations that address social determinants of health against the backdrop of health related sustainable development goals.

‘’The maiden edition of the National Eye Health Policy 2019 developed in context and agreement with the National Health Policy provides a framework for collective scale up for eye care service delivery at all levels including child eye care. It advocates promotive, preventive, curative and rehabilitative services’’, he said.

On his part, Dr, Bade Ogundipe, President Opthalmological Society of Nigeria, advised Nigerians to imbibe the habit of undergoing regular eye screening for early detection of eye diseases, especially those with family history of glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness.

Dr. Ogundipe revealed that early detection through regular and complete eye examination was crucial to protecting vision from damage caused by glaucoma.

‘’glaucoma is an eye disease that affects the optic nerves, gradually damaging the fibres in an irreversible manner till blindness occurred, if no intervention is undertaken. glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world.

‘’glaucoma has no cure and many people don’t know that they have it. “It is only when they undergo free eye screening exercises that they often discover it.

“Glaucoma is referred to as ‘the silent thief of sight’. This is because it slowly damages the eye and causes irreversible loss of vision to the sufferer. So, glaucoma can be avoided if the disease is discovered early,” he added.

The eye specialist said to beat invisible glaucoma in the country, Nigerians should walk into any eye care standard facility and have their eyes evaluated or checked for glaucoma.

Earlier, the Country Director, Christian Blind Mission (CBM), Bright Ekweremadu who stressed the need to always take care of the eye reaffirmed the commitment of the organization to improve the quality of life of people with disabilities irrespective of race, gender and religion.

He further called on the federal government to ensure that eye health care is prioritise in Nigeria.