Even for the blind ... there is light at the end of the tunnel

Even for the blind ... there is light at the end of the tunnel - Eighty percent of diseases leading to blindness are either preventable or curable. This was the message given by Saudi Arabia’s health care sector on the World Sight Day that was observed on Oct. 14. “As we celebrate the World Sight Day, the solution to blindness lies with spreading awareness,” say Saudi doctors.

While the blindness rate across the world is about 0.3 percent, the figure more or less is the same for Saudi Arabia. However, about 80 percent of the diseases that lead to blindness are curable or preventable, one of them at the International Medical Center, says.

The World Sight Day, along with advocating prevention of blindness, also promoted “Vision 2020: The Right to Sight,” a global effort by World health Organization and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.

“However, we are aiming to get 100 percent of our target populations tested, diagnosed and treated and that is why we need to continue to raise public awareness as we countdown to 2020,” he said.

Organizations dedicated to both curing people who have reversible eye conditions and preventing people from becoming needlessly blind are continuing their effort. One of the key ways of doing this is by training local eye care experts and volunteers.

Restoration of sight and blindness prevention strategies are among the most cost-effective interventions in health care. “But how much have we succeeded in taking it to the people is the question that everyone should ask,” he says.

Although the number of cases of blindness is evenly distributed among the urban and rural population, much of the rural population is yet to make use of technology available to treat diseases. “The facility to perform an eye surgery is rarely available in rural areas. We are witnessing new technological developments in the area. It is high time we reach both the urban and rural population equally,” he added.

Infectious causes of blindness are decreasing the world over as a result of public health interventions and socio-economic development. Blinding trachoma today affects fewer than 80 million people as compared to the 360 million in 1985.

The number of blind people worldwide has been projected to increase to 76 million by 2020. “A big ageing population and lifestyle changes mean that chronic blinding conditions such as diabetic retinopathy are projected to rise exponentially. Without effective major interventions, this problem will continue to prevail,” a doctor said.

What is the solution then? Educating the people about the availability of medical facilities to treat and prevent blindness and awareness campaigns is the way out. “We need to spread awareness through educative films and the media. People should also talk about it with their families. Many more eye screening camps should be held,” an eye specialist at El Maghrabi Hospital said.

There are 314 million visually impaired persons, 45 million blind people and more than 200 million persons have moderate or severe visual impairment in the world, according to the “Blindness and Visual Impairment: Global Facts”, document.

It indicated that 153 million people were visually impaired because of uncorrected refractive errors such as uncorrected nearsightedness, farsightedness or astigmatism, the report indicated. However, in most cases, normal vision could be restored with eyeglasses.

It said up to 80 percent of blindness and up to 85 percent of moderate or severe visual impairment could be avoided through prevention, treatment or cure and almost 90 percent of blind people live in low-income countries.

The restoration of sight through cataract surgery was one of the most cost-effective health interventions, Global Facts explained.

The document said infectious causes of blindness were decreasing as a result of public health interventions and socio-economic development.

It, however, revealed that ageing populations and changes in lifestyle could considerably increase the magnitude of visual impairment due to chronic conditions such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration, unless appropriate eye care services are provided.

It said cataract, which was curable by surgery, was the leading cause of avoidable blindness and it was estimated that 110,000 people had cataract blindness increasing by 20,000 annually.

Prevention and cure

Organizations have been working to both cure people who have reversible eye conditions and prevent people from becoming needlessly blind. One of the key ways of doing this is by training local eye care experts and volunteers.

Curing blindness

Although cataract is found all over the world, getting treatment for it is much more difficult in developing countries, and it affects children as well as adults.

Preventing blindness

Millions of people are still going needlessly blind in the developing world from preventable diseases such as river blindness and trachoma, and in children, Vitamin A deficiency.

Training eye care workers

One of the most challenging aspects of eye care is the severe shortage of trained staff. Since the 1980s, efforts are continuing to tackle the shortage of eye care workers in cooperation with local partners to train staff at all levels. ( arabnews.com )