BY DAVID ADUGE-ANI, ABUJA
The federal government has vowed to address the issue of vision impairment and blindness among Nigerian children.
Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Muhammad Ali Pate, started this in Abuja on Thursday at a stakeholders meeting to mark this year’s World Sight Day.
Professor Pate noted that millions of children worldwide suffer from untreated vision conditions, which hinder their education and future potential.
The Minister noted that the theme of this years’ campaign, ‘Love Your Eyes Kids’, underscores our collective responsibility to ensure that every child deserves to see the world with clarity and precision, emphasizing that vision is a fundamental part of a child’s overall health and intellectual development.
Represented by the Director, Special Projects, Dr. Charles Nzelu, the minister said that addressing eye health is vital for achieving various United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which includes quality education, poverty eradication, enhanced health and well-being, gender equality and economic growth.
“Our collective action is necessary to improve awareness and advocacy, expand access to comprehensive eye care, integrate eye health into healthcare systems and foster innovative solutions to increase access” he further stated.
In a statement by the deputy director (press and public relations) in the ministry, Alaba Balogun, the minister also disclosed that part of governments’ initiative and interventions to improve access to vision care across the country included but not limited to the integration of Primary Eye Care (PEC) into Primary Health Care (PHC.
This, he said, would ensure access to eye care services at the grassroot to all, including children; Effective Spectacular Coverage Initiative Nigeria (ESCIN) Jigibola 2.0 which has been officially launched and partnerships with other line Ministries like education, transport, private sector and media to achieve sustainable goals.
He therefore urged parents, caregivers and teachers to identify with the initiative which will impact millions of children living with some form of sight challenges, adding that at least 450 million children have a sight condition and needs treatment with 90 million living with some form of vision loss.
In her goodwill message, representative of Christoffel Blenden Mission (CBM) International, Angela Ujah, said that it is gratifying to know that efforts are made towards providing much needed information and awareness on eye health and making eye care services available, accessible and affordable to Nigerians especially to Nigerian children.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Kachallom Daju represented by Dr. Oteri Okolo Eme, National Coordinator, Eye Health Programme stated that “the World Health Day serves as a powerful platform to spotlight these challenges and to galvanise our efforts toward effective solutions”
She said that the theme is a poignant reminder of the vital role that vision plays in the lives of children.
“Yet many children in Nigeria continue to suffer from preventable vision impairment due to lack of awareness and access to essential eye care services,” she said.
Daju added that “we must work together to achieve the strategic objectives for eye health as clearly outlined in the National Eye Health Strategic Development Plan 2024-2028.”