World Sight Day marked at KNUST

Kumasi, Oct. 19, GNA - A Lecturer in the Department of Optometry and Visual Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Mr. Mohammed Abdul-Kabir, has said many people in Ghana are functionally blind because they do not have access to low vision devices and services due mainly to poverty.

He has, therefore, urged the government to solicit support from its development partners and the private sector to provide more funds for blindness prevention activities.

"People with low vision, in the majority of cases, cannot be medically cured but they can be helped with devices and services to live normal lives if these services are more accessible at low cost". Mr Abdul-Kabir was speaking on Thursday at a public lecture organized at KNUST Campus by the University's branch of the Optometry Students Association of Ghana (OSAG) to mark World Sight Day. World Sight Day is celebrated each year in October to focus attention on global blindness.

It is aimed to raise public awareness around the world about the prevention and treatment of vision loss. The global theme for this year's event, marked on October 12, was "Low Vision and Refractive Error".

Mr Abdul-Kabir said disabling refractive error affects a vast majority of Ghanaians, pointing out that many people have permanent low vision that requires rehabilitation services.

He said refractive error was easy to diagnose, measured and corrected with spectacles at an extremely low cost and urged the health authorities to make it an important part of eye care delivery. "The lack of refraction services and spectacle provision in underserved communities has negative consequences in terms of lost educational and employment opportunities, impaired quality of life and productivity for the individual, the family and society". According to the World Health Organisation, while every five seconds one person in the world goes blind, one child goes blind every minute and over seven million people become blind every year from preventable causes.

The President of KNUST branch of OSAG, Mr. Obeng Yeboah Douglas said the association would continue to make its services available to the rural poor through community-based outreach services, primary eye care and school screening and called on the business community for support.