World Sight Day: Uncorrected refractive errors major reason for increasing cases of blindness – NOA

By Nneka Nwogwugwu

In commemoration of the 2021 World Sight Day, the Nigerian Optometric Association (NOA) has called for awareness on uncorrected errors, one of the reasons causing blindness.

The president of the association, Dr. Obinna Awaika in a statement he released on Tuesday to mark the World Sight day, stated that the leading cause of visual impairment and blindness are uncorrected refractive error and cataracts which are both conditions easily preventable.

Awaike noted that globally, at least 2.2 billion people have visual impairment or blindness, of whom at least in 1 billion of these cases could have been prevented, adding that the adoption of preventive eye health as part of efforts to reduce the unnecessary visual impairment and blindness among individuals.

According to the president, ’’Of the 1 billion people, 88.4 million have moderate or severe distance vision impairment or blindness due to uncorrected refractive error, and 94 million from cataract with glaucoma which causes irreversible blindness accounting for 7.7 million.

‘’The implications of visual Impairment cannot be underestimated as it places enormous economic burden on families, community and nation with loss of productivity not to mention its effect on social and psychological.

‘’This is due to the fact that visual impairment and blindness cause a considerable and increasing economic burden, which affect not only persons with vision loss and their families, but also societies at large with its attendant cost.

‘’In 2018, a research on the economic burden of visual impairment in the United Kingdom revealed that the value of the loss of healthy life associated with sight loss and blindness was estimated to be £19.5 billion. The burden tends to be greater in low- and middle-income countries and underserve populations, such as women, migrants, indigenous peoples, persons with certain kinds of disability, and in rural communities.’’

Further explaining the importance of preventive eye health, Dr. Awaika noted that the prevalence of distance vision impairment in low to middle income regions including Nigeria is estimated to be four times higher than high income regions and uncorrected near vision from presbyopia a major concern in recent times.

‘’Though Majority of those with visual impairment are over 50, children are not left out as 1 out of every 3 children in Nigeria has an uncorrected visual impairment which will affect school work, learning, recreation, self-esteem and may encourage truancy , delinquency and dropouts.

‘’In Nigeria, the National Blindness and Visual Impairment Survey has shown that uncorrected refractive errors is a major cause of visual impairment, with about 77.9% of mild visual impairment being caused by it.

‘’The fact that uncorrected refractive errors constitute such a large proportion of preventable visual impairments and blindness has placed a huge responsibility on Nigerian Optometrists to increase the awareness through eye health promotion and education about avoidable blindness, while ensuring that everyone, everywhere at both local ,state and federal level should have access to eye care services, ‘’ he added.

The Nigerian Optometric Association joins the world and the Eye care sector every October to celebrate the World Sight Day (WSD).

Its significance is to raise awareness about the importance of optimum vision and how to address every barrier rendering visual impairment and blindness. Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) have championed this event with other eye health sectors in over 175 countries to actively support the yearly call.

This year, World Sight Day will take place on October 14, 2021 with the theme:” Love Your Eyes.”

The Nigerian Optometric Association has adopted the theme “Love your eyes. Save your sight” a cliché for personal responsibility towards preservation of our sight.

This year’s event equally creates opportunity to continue to seek broader partnerships in the campaign against visual impairments and blindness.