In 2020, some health researchers Investigative Opthalmology and Visual Science say, there is a high prevalence of blindness and severe visual impairment among those above 40 years in Nigeria.
According to them, the tendencies to get high number of patients of vision impairment in Northern Nigeria will escalate and supercede the number of cases in the South as a result of extreme poverty in the region.
Some findings also revealed that, the North’s vision impairment cases is more common among old aged persons, women and children – and is often caused by poor literacy.
In 2020, a Nigerian medical expert, Dr Abia Nzelu says, every five seconds one person in the world goes blind even as she said that over 1 million blind adults live in Nigeria.
He says, a child goes blind every minute and that 4 out of 5 blind people are needlessly blind in developing countries like Nigeria, said these things happen because most people do not seek preventive eye care.
In Kano this year, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje has ordered an immediate response against the disease through conducting a Free Eye Health Outreach Program to 14,000 residents at different healthcare facilities to mark 2021 World Sight Day.
The state’s commissioner of health, Dr Aminu Tsanyawa who made this known during a press conference on Thursday says, considering the prevalence of the disease in the state, Ganduje has also institutionalized Primary Eye Care into PHC system through signing MoU with relevant facilities in the state.
According to Dr Tsanyawa, Kano state government’s effort will assiduously help in curing the already confirmed cases of vision impairment in the state, “which will change the narrative of experts’ research on the North.”
