Agency eyes sight problems

Maranyane Ngwanaamotho | Thursday October 10, 2013 22:21

Evelyn Brealey, programme director in the agency, said during an interview that the project, called Pono Letlotlo, intends improving children's vision services, as they usually do not know if they have sight problems and hence do not receive proper medical care.

Diabetics are often susceptible to sight problems, she says.

Brealey says they have already trained some nurses in Block Six clinic in Gaborone, Serowe and Francistown to capacitate them with the skill to operate a special camera used to screen people for eye problems at an early age.

Patients and children will be brought to these clinics from other villages and towns for eye testing. Brealey says this is because a lot of sight problems, and generally all illnesses, can be treated if diagnosed early.

The agency is currently in discussions with the ministry on strategies to identify the less privileged, among them children, to be provided with spectacles.

Today marks the annual day on which special attention is given to blindness and vision impairment. World Sight Day is co-ordinated by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness under the Vision 2020 Global Initiative.

This year, the Ministry of Health will be commemorating the day at Sekgoma Memorial Hospital in Serowe. Currently, approximately 285 million people worldwide live with low vision and blindness. Of these, 39 million are blind and 246 million have moderate or severe visual impairment.

Ninety percent of blind people live in low-income countries. However, 80% of visual impairment is avoidable.