Pediatric ophthalmologist reveals 5.5 million Nigerian children visually impaired

A paediatric ophthalmologist, Dr. Halima Alimi has revealed that about 5.5 million Nigerian children have visual impairment and would need pairs of eyeglasses to see clearly. The eye expert, who is the Executive Director, Restore Foundation for Child Sight, a non-government organisation that advocates for improved eye care for children, said the children have refractive errors and are unable to see clearly as a result of either being short-sighted, long-sighted or they have what is called astigmatism.

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The paediatric ophthalmologist noted that though there are other causes of vision impairments in children such as cataracts and glaucoma, the only way to rectify vision as a result of refractive errors is through a pair of glasses.

She said: “Globally, there are about 12 million children who are visually impaired because of spectacle issues. They just need a pair of spectacles to make their lives better. In Nigeria, it is estimated that at least 5.5 million children have vision problems that are related to spectacles and are either long-sighted, shortsighted or astigmatic. So, a minimum of 5.5 million children in Nigeria need to have a pair of glasses to make their vision and education better. These children have refractive errors which, means they are unable to see clearly as a result of either being long-sighted, long-sighted or they have what is called astigmatism. Those are called refractive errors and the only way to rectify vision as a result of refractive errors is through a pair of glasses.”

The executive director, who spoke with newsmen during a free school eye health outreach for secondary students in Lagos State, organised by the foundation to commemorate the 2023 World Sight Day, said in the last two years, the foundation has been providing school eye care to disadvantaged children and disadvantaged communities.

According to her, the aim of the school eye health outreach is to bring qualitative care to children in school where they are naturally gathered.

Speaking about the eye outreach, the paediatric ophthalmologist said, “This is Education District Six and we plan to go school by school in the district.  When we are done with district six, we will go to other districts. We intend to conquer vision impairment in children. We are just on a journey of discovery to find out what their vision status is and improve the vision status to be optimal because 80 per cent of classroom learning is visual. So, if you have visually impaired children, the implication is poor academic performance and by extension, poor future attainment.”

Giving insight into the benefits of the school eye health programme, she added, “Basically, what we are doing here is making children’s lives better by improving their vision. We will provide them with glasses and drugs, and we will do all that free of charge. We have found children already who would need eye surgeries and children with cataracts. What Restore Foundation does is bring qualitative care to disadvantaged children giving them a chance to break out of poverty because education is a veritable tool out of poverty. This school eye health programme does not exclude educators. They also need optimal vision. Once we are done with children, we are going to be giving teachers evaluations in their own time and doing what we can.

World Sight Day is celebrated all over the world on this day and this is part of our contribution. The theme for this year’s World Sight Day is ‘Love your sight at work’.