By Okechukwu Onuegbu
The President, Nigerian Optomeric Association (NOA) and Fellow of American Academic of Optometry, Dr Chimeziri Anderson, Monday, said that over a thousand residents of Anambra state would undergo free eye check up for glaucoma.
Anderson, who made this known during a press conference organised by the Nigerian Optometric Association to mark the beginning of a two day's National Delegates Congress & Glaucoma Summit held at the Heilton Leisure Resort, Awka during the weekend.
According to Dr Anderson who is a specialist in community eye health epitomiology, the annual delegate congress which takes place every year is where members decide the future of the association and use the opportunity to render some cooperate social responsibilities as a charity organisation.
"We just observed the world glaucoma which started from 10th to 16th of march and that glaucoma week is a week set aside by the global body, World Health Organization (WHO) and international body for the protection of blindness.
"Glaucoma is a group of eye disease and now we know its a neuro-degenerative disorder that leds to gradual blindness, we call it the silent thief of sight because it doesn't give you any sign or pain but you gradually discover that your vision is going down until it goes into visual impairment".
"So the most important thing to do to tackle this glaucoma is prevention. That's why we emphasise more on health promotion through preventive measures. Those preventive measures you can apply to avoid glaucoma," he noted.
He emphasized that international reports show that 80 per cent of blindness are avoidable because most of them depend on their life choices. "If we follow the right diet or do the right thing, we may discover that blindness that is up to 80 per cent proportion is avoidable."
Dr Anderson stressed that there is need to educate the masses the difference between glaucoma and cataract because many people misinterpret the both due to poor behavioural patterns which are common among African countries epically Nigeria, a situation where they apply self care by taking drugs without proper check.
"NOA essence of this gathering is to run screen on 1000 Ndi Anambra for glaucoma and give them treatment andfor those who have become glaucoma suspect refer them to eye centres and hospitals where they can be properly managed".
"We equally have another social responsibility which is an initiative "NOA My Sight My Right which was conceptualised as afar as 2015 and was launched in 2018 when we targeted 50,000 children for retractive error and visual impairment. We took to schools where we would check these children and offer free eye classes, and this was sponsored by esilo opticals.
Because of Covid the programme was brought to a halt and now we are relaunching this program with a target to screen about 10 million children and that's one of the strategies we will be embarking on at this summit".
"We target rural areas because some of these children are in the villages, and this makes us understand that vision impairment might be as a result of poor diet or nutritional disorder. We are going to complement the efforts of the federal government at making sure that these children feed well, and so we have packaged for nutritional supply
We are partnering with so many donor agencies to make sure this comes to a reality. "
"We also have to launch our new paper, which is titled eye connect, this initiative is for both non practitioners and practitioners, and they have a magazine that they can have access to. Our number is increasing and so through the news letter we can be able to communicate and anything you read on the magazine is authentic and not fake".
In his welcome address shortly after the conference, Chairman, Nigerian Optometric Association, Anambra state/Local Organising Committee, Dr Chidiebere Ezeanowai, while speaking on this year's theme - Glaucoma, the silent thief of sight said that there is no better time to critically discuss this theme than now because of the global impact of glaucoma on the world's population.
Dr Ezeanowai maintained that the world Glaucoma Summit being hosted by the state has also witnessed the celebration of the world Optometry week, a week usually mapped out for to help consolidate and elaborate on who and optometrist is and also to help them highlight our everyday impacts on the society as regarding eye care.
Meanwhile, an award of excellence was given to the Anambra state governor, Prof Charles Soludo, for reducing insecurity and improving infrasturctural development in the state within two years in office.
The association, however, used the opportunity to urge Prof Soludo to institute more Optomeric units, especially in the primary health centres, general hospitals in the local government, and prioritise eye care.
Also was the Senior Special Advisor on special duties to the Abia state governor, Dr Emeka Obasi Betty Emeka who was bestowed with meritous award for her commitment towards the growth of Optometry in the southeast while applauding Abia state governor, Dr Otti for tremendous change in the state.
Special recognition were the the keynote speaker, National Coordinator, Eye Health, Federal Ministry of Health and Social welfare, Dr Okolo Oteri Eme, the Royal Father of the Day, HRM, Igwe Sir (Dr) Benneth Izuchukwu Emeka, Oke Ebo Umueri, and the Immediate Past Head of Service, Barr Harry Uduh, while free eye check and distributiin of free drugs formed the highpoint of the event.