About 230,000 Ghanaians Are Blind - GHS | Health

About 230,000 Ghanaians representing 0.74 per cent of the whole nationwide inhabitants are blind, a nationwide population-based prevalence survey has revealed.

Dr. Hornametor Afake, the Head, Eye Care Unit of the Ghana Health Service (GHS) who disclosed this stated the survey was performed within the nation in 2015 for varied eye ailments.

This was in a speech learn on his behalf by Dr. Louis Oteng-Gyimah, an Ophthalmologist on the Sunyani Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Hospital on the opening of the tenth Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Ghana Optometric Association (GOA), underway in Sunyani.

The three-day Meeting is on the theme "Eye Care for All by 2030: Harnessing the Optometry Potential in Ghana".

In a breakdown, Dr. Afake enumerated the causes of blindness to as 127,000 (54.8 per cent) cataract, 45,000 (19.4 per cent) glaucoma and different causes together with posterior section ailments and corneal opacity.

About 332,000 Ghanaians representing 1.07 per cent of whole nationwide inhabitants have a extreme visible impairment with refractive error 44.4 per cent and 42.2 per cent cataracts, he stated.

Dr. Afake defined in 2021, the 74th World Health Assembly adopted two new formidable eye well being targets for 2030 to deal with the large unmet eye care wants, including the targets included reaching 40 per cent enhance in efficient protection of refractive error and 30 per cent enhance in efficient protection of cataract surgical procedure by 2030.

He emphasised the position of the optometrists remained key to the achievement of the targets, regretting that about 67 per cent of individuals with imaginative and prescient impairment and about 95 per cent of those that wanted glasses within the nation didn't have entry.

Dr. Afake stated the National Eye care Unit would proceed to work with all eye care skilled teams, together with the optometric affiliation to ship complete and high quality eye care companies to the nationwide inhabitants.

“Currently, we have about 506 optometrists in the country and this gives a ratio of 1 optometrist to about 62,000 Ghanaians which is acceptable by WHO standards, but the real issue is the regional distribution”, he stated.

Available figures he added indicated that 229 (45 per cent) optometrists have been in Greater Accra, 110 (21.7 %) within the Ashanti, and solely 167 (33.3 per cent) have been unfold throughout the opposite 14 areas.

Dr. Afake, due to this fact, known as on members of the Association to simply accept postings to all districts within the nation to make eye care out there, accessible and reasonably priced for everybody.

Dr. Mahama Asei Seini, a Deputy Minister of Health underscored the necessity for everybody to be acutely aware and take excellent care of their eyes, saying the government would additionally be sure that Ghanaians entry high quality eye care companies as effectively.

He recommended the Association for its efforts in guaranteeing high quality and immediate eye care companies within the nation and warranted government's dedication to help the Association within the implementation of insurance policies and packages to enhance on eye care companies supply.