Mr Harrison K. Abutiate, the President of the Glaucoma Association of Ghana (GAG), has said awareness messages and education on Glaucoma are not reaching the populace because of the lack of funds to train eye care personnel.
He has, therefore, urged the Government and corporate bodies to support the Association by providing it with funds that would help train more eye care personnel, and employ them to help achieve the goal of fighting against the disease.
Mr Abutiate said this, in Accra, on Wednesday, at the media launch of the 2016 World Glaucoma Week Celebration on the theme, “Beat Invisible Glaucoma (B-I-G)”.
The President appealed to optical health services to provide free eye care screening to the public, at least, once every year, explaining that “Glaucoma cannot be cured, while it can only be discovered through screening.”
Glaucoma is complicated disease, in which damage to the optic nerve leads to progressive, irreversible vision loss. It is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in the world.
Dr Seth Fiadoyor, an Ophthalmologist at the Volta River Authority Hospital, said in Ghana 700,000 people had Glaucoma, while some 250,000 people were not aware of their condition, with some 60,000 people becoming already blind.
He said about 60 million people worldwide had the disease; 30 million of the number, did not know of their condition, while nine million had gone blind.
The number, he said, was expected to shoot up to 80 million by the year 2020.
Dr Fiadoyor said the Glaucoma prevalence in Africa was high, adding: “We need to arrest blindness through Glaucoma by any means possible.”
Dr Fiadoyor, therefore, called on the media to help raise awareness on the disease.
Mr Alex Segbefia, the Minister of Health, also urged eye clinics to offer free screening to the citizenry during the World Glaucoma Week.
He said by doing so Glaucoma, and other conditions, could be detected early and referred to appropriate specialists for treatment.
Mr Segbefia noted that in line with the Ministry’s policy of early detection and prevention of the disease, the weeklong celebration, which was slated for March 6 to March 12, would feature radio and television talk shows with a free public eye screening on Saturday, March 12.
He said, “The Ministry, therefore, pledges to accord eye health activities their rightful place in Government’s health policies, provide leadership and governance in this regard and invest adequate resources to ensure increased access to quality eye health service.”
“We shall continue to support human resources development by training and retraining of personnel and also ensure that those deployed are well motivated.”
Mr Segbefia advised the public to get regular eye checks from approved providers.
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