By Chioma Umeha
Unless urgent steps are taken by the policymakers,
an appreciable percentage of residents of five South East states may risk
blindness in no distant time, experts have warned.
The experts from the Ophthalmological Society of
Nigeria (OSN) and the South East Ophthalmologist’s Forum (SEOF) in partnership
with Pfizer raised the alarm while decrying the growing incidence of eye
threatening disease – Glaucoma in affected States in the zone.
Rising from a one-day symposium on the effect of
the dreaded eye ailment weekend, in Enugu, the experts called for immediate
concerted efforts by both public and private sector to tackle issue.
The organisers explained that their fears were
informed by the outcome of a research conducted by the eyecare specialists in
the country which showed that the south east has the highest prevalence of
severe visual impairments of people over 40 years, with two per cent of
residents of the zone already down with the disease.
In view of this, specialists from all the
specialist hospitals in Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi and Imo states converged
in Enugu state for a one-day brainstorming session on how to find solution to
the problem.
The forum also plans to adopt new strategies and
would soon commence fresh research on why the zone is the worst hit compared to
other in the country.
The Director of Corporate Affairs Pfizer, Margaret
Olele, intimated that Pfizer is committed to contributing positively to patient
care in the nation’s communities with relevant stakeholders to reduce the
burden of Glaucoma.
The Glaucoma Symposium is designed to update
health care professionals on the latest advances in medical and surgical
management of Glaucoma. It throws more light in Glaucoma management, medicals,
surgical techniques and the burden of the disease in sub-saharan Africa and
Nigeria.
Addressing newsmen during one of the sessions, the
chairperson of SEOF, Prof. Rich Umeh stated that the aggressive approach had
become imperative in the war against Glaucoma.
“This is where the media, Church and community
groups come in. Everybody has to join this campaign to stem the tide.”
Also, the National President of the Ophthalmological
Society of Nigeria, Prof. Sebastine Nwosu and the facilitator of the forum, Dr.
Nkiru Akaraiwe said the challenge had become worrisome to them.
Prof. Nwosu urged persons whose relatives suffered
eye diseases not to hesitate in subjecting their own eyes to regular tests.
Emphasising the prevalence of Glaucoma in the zone, the medical experts, noted
that it would be a public health crisis if they failed to do anything despite
their training as ophthalmologists.
He however, urged affected families to approach
specialists in good time.
According to the specialists, Glaucoma blindness
was the commonest eye disease in the zone with prevalence rate of 1.2 percent
compared to other zones with less than 0.3 per cent. The implications, they
noted was that out of every 100 blind persons, one or two would have suffered
Glaucoma.
“This is obviously genetic, not because of what we
eat or drink. We want to alert people on the need to go through eye checks once
or twice every year. If you have a relative that had eye problem, the person is
blind, it simply means you have to subject your entire family to go through
Glaucoma check immediately because Glaucoma will not give you any signal before
it comes,” Prof. Umeh noted.
She noted that though research was conducted ten
years ago, other studies done in segments have shown that the situation had
even worsened, adding that it had become imperative for specialists, and policy
makers to equally come up with new strategies.
“The age forty is actually the most active year
and it will be unthinkable for young men to get to irreversible blindness. We
must do something urgently,” she stated.
For Dr. Nkiru Kizor-Akariwe: “You rather lose a
leg than lose your vision. So everybody should take advantage of the expertise
offered by the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, the Park Lane
Specialists Hospital, GRA Enugu and other Government hospitals across the South
East,” Kizor-Akariwe added.
Participants were drawn from various hospitals in
the region.
