The Federal Government on Thursday in Abuja launched the first national eye health policy to increase accessibility to eye care services for Nigerians.
The National Eye Health policy is Nigeria’s first comprehensive National Eye Health Policy which scales up existing eye health services and ensures that no one is left behind through approaches that ensure equitable access to quality eye care services.
It was gathered that this document has been adopted by the States and the Federal Capital Territory during the 64th meeting of the National Council on Health and it was believed that with this launch, adoption of the policy in the various states will begin.
The Minister of State for Health, Dr Olorunimbe Mamora, at the launch, on Thursday, in Abuja reiterated the importance of vision to the socio-economic development of the people.
Mamora disclosed that Nigeria with other member states at the United Nations General Assembly recently adopted the vision for everyone which formed accelerating action to achieve the sustainable development goals resolution, aimed at committing the international community to eye health for the 1.1 billion people living with preventable sight loss by 2030.
Mamora further maintained that It has been established that the avoidance of blindness is key to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 1; no poverty) as vision loss alone costs the globe a whopping $411 billion annually.
Mamora said, “Following successful cataract surgery, the income bracket of 46 per cent of households moved up the economic ladder thus contributing to eliminating the zero hunger in SDG 1.
