600,000 Nigerians will need eye surgery by
2020 — National Eye Centre

october 11, 2014
Vanguard News
By Luka Binniyat

The Chief Medical Director (CMD), National
Eye Centre, Kaduna, Dr. Godwin O. Adejor
has warned that that unless there was a
radical improvement in cataract awareness in
the country, more than 600,000 Nigerians may
have to undergo the operation by the year
2020.
Speaking in Kaduna on the occasion of the
World Sight Day celebration (WSD) which was
organised by the centre, Dr. Adejor noted that
the figure was expected to outnumber the
400,000 Nigerians operated of cataract about
seven years ago.
He however, said that the National Eye Centre
was able to render free cataract surgery for
512 patients during “Goodluck Operation
Restore Sight”, a Presidential initiative to
improve the number of cataract surgeries in
the country.
According to him, in order to usher in
universal eye health, there was the need to
train more eye care professionals such as
ophthalmologists, optometrists, ophthalmic
nurses and optical dispensing technicians
among others.
“ I want to advocate for the provision of
comprehensive eye care services and integrate
them into existing health systems as well as
identify and eliminate social and economic
obstacles especially for the poor and the
marginalised.”, he said.
He said: “In Nigeria, according to the results of
the National Blindness Survey conducted from
2005-2007, the prevalence of blindness in
people who were aged 40 years and older was
42% and 0.78% in all ages. According to this
study, 84% of blindness in Nigeria was due to
avoidable causes of which cataract constitutes
43%. The number of operable cataract in
Nigeria then was estimated at 400,000,
which is expected to increase by 43%
(600,000) in 2020 if cataract surgical coverage
of the country remains unchanged.
“It is heart-warming to learn that the National
Eye Centre was able to render free cataract
surgery for 512 patients during “Goodluck
Operation Restore Sight” which is a
Presidential Initiative to improve the Cataract
Surgical Rate of the number of cataract
surgeries per million per year) of the country.
“A brief statistical data is a necessary panacea
to understanding of burden of blindness /
visual impairment. According to the recent
available data, approximately 285 million
people worldwide live with low vision and
blindness. Of these, 39 million, 37 – 40 people
are blind and 246 million have moderate –
severe impairment. 90% of the blind people
live in low – income countries. It is also known
that 80% of visual impairment is avoidable.
“Although the number of people blind from
infectious causes has greatly reduced in the
past 20 years among the high – income
countries, these causes are still very significant
in the low – income countries of the world. It is
estimated that 19 million children worldwide,
are visually impaired”.