World Sight Day launched

Accra, Oct. 25, GNA - This year's World Sight Day was launched in Accra on Wednesday with a call for equal opportunity and better quality of life for the visually impaired.

They should also be helped to develop their skills to become self reliant in the society, Dr Gladys Ashitey, a Deputy Minister of Health, said.

"Family members must not see the visually impaired as a bother or a curse but rather help and encourage them to lead a meaningful life, involve them in discussions or projects that affect them, for their significant participation and invaluable contribution will help make a difference."

The day under the theme: "Promoting the Social Inclusion of the Visually Impaired" focuses on the problem of global blindness, which indicates that "every five seconds someone in our world goes blind and a child goes blind every minute".

The day also aims to raise awareness that 75 per cent of blindness world- wide was preventable and treatable and to encourage governments, organizations, donor agencies and individuals to invest in the prevention of global blindness.

Dr Ashitey said there was the need for people to change their mindset about the visually impaired to promote their social inclusion since their situation was only an impairment.

"Most people, who go blind lose their confidence and resign themselves to fate. Eye care workers, and indeed, all of us, should reassure and counsel the visually impaired after their reactions to shock, denial, anxiety, anger and depression to accept their condition and help them to adjust to life."

She called for collaborative approach to establish string linkages to attain the goal of "Vision 2020 - The Right to Sight". Professor Christine Ntim-Amponsah, Vice Dean of University of Ghana Medical School, who gave an overview of the low vision care, said research conducted at the Akropong School for the Blind revealed that factors identified as causes of low vision were measles (25 per cent), application of traditional medicines (27 per cent) and injuries (3.0 per cent).

She called for basic research to determine basic causes of low vision, which ones could be prevented, the seriousness of the condition, social problems associated with it and use the knowledge to help the visually impaired to live a meaningful life. Professor Agyeman Badu Akosa, Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, who chaired the function, said the visually impaired were not disabled but "our attitudes towards them has made them disabled". He urged the public to have positive attitudes towards the visually impaired.

He commended Sight Savers, an international group, for their involvement in assisting children with low vision through the Integrated School Programme in Akwapim North District, which has integrated these children into the normal school to enhance their studies. 25 Oct. 06