Low Vision in Nigeria: Independence Day for the Blind and Visually Impaired

Definitions

Kids who are blind or visually impaired aren't too different from kids who aren't blind. They can do most things that other kids can do. Kids who are blind or visually impaired like to hang out with friends and do fun things, and they can go to college, have families, and perform many different types of jobs.

The big difference is that these children need to "see" the world in a different way. Blindness and other vision related problems are one of many health issues that plague the African continent. The African government is in the process of implementing many government sponsored programs that seek to eradicate this problem. Vision 2020: The Right to Sight is one such program, and was launched in Nigeria.

Vision 2020: the Right to Sight is a global initiative to eliminate avoidable blindness by the year 2020. Vision 2020 will address five major causes of blindness in francophone Africa: cataract, trachoma, glaucoma, onchocerciasis and childhood blinding disorders, particularly those leading to corneal scarring. "Sub-Saharan Africa together with China and India account for an estimated 60% of the world's blind.

However, figures alone can neither depict the economic plight of blind people and those with serious visual impairment, nor express the untold suffering and humiliation they experience," Dr Samba warned. As major reasons for such an increase, he mentioned rapid population growth and aging, appalling living conditions, the severe shortage of adequately trained ophthalmologists, and the limited supply of essential eye drugs and modern technologies to prevent and treat blindness.

In sub-Saharan Africa, 3 million children under age five suffer blindness caused by lack of vitamin A. Vitamin A is produced by the body when it has sufficient quantities of a precursor known as "beta-carotene." When it doesn't, the body can not produce sufficient vitamin A, and blindness can result. The World Health Organization (WHO) says that women with vitamin A deficiency face a significantly higher risk of death during pregnancy. And children are more subject to falling victim to other diseases if they don't have enough of this critical vitamin.

Reducing the incidence of blindness not only increases the quality of people's lives; it also benefits their countries' economies. The World Bank estimates that for every dollar invested in capsule supplements, more than $100 is returned in the form of increased productivity associated with healthier workers and lower public health costs.

Before I go any further with this research paper it is imperative that I define a few terms, and note, every term defined in this paragraph will be discussed in further detail in the body of this research paper. First of all, I want to emphasize the difference between blindness and low vision. Blindness means that a person has no useful vision, while low vision on the other hand, means that your useful vision does not meet your needs and cannot be corrected by glasses, contact lenses or surgery.

If you are affected by low vision there are several devices available to you that make everyday life more approachable. These devices are called low vision aides or devices. A low vision device is an apparatus that improves vision, and they are broken into two categories: optical low vision aides and non optical low vision devices. Optical low vision devices use lenses or a combination of lenses to provide magnification (they should not be confused with standard eye glasses).

There are five main types of optical low vision aides. They include:

1. Magnifying spectacles
2. Hand magnifiers
3. Stand magnifiers
4. Telescopes
5. Closed Circuit Television

Non optical low vision devices include:

1. Large print materials
2. Check writing guides
3. Large playing cards
4. Enlarged telephone dials
5. High contrast watch faces
6. Devices that talk
7. Machines that scan print and read aloud

Blindness and other vision related problems affect African Americans more frequently than whites. Hispanics, however, have higher rates of visual impairments. Although there are millions of vision related diseases, for the purpose of time and space I plan to focus on the three that have the greatest prevalence in the African/African American community: these include Glaucoma, Cataracts, and Diabetic Retinopathy.

Glaucoma is often referred to as the silent thief of vision. Glaucoma is a collection of eye problems that elevate pressure within the eye, damaging the optic nerve, and seriously affecting vision. In advanced cases Glaucoma can lead to total blindness. A cataract is an opacity or haziness that develops in the eye's lens. Finally, diabetic retinopathy is a broad based term that refers to the visual problems associated with diabetes. Now that we've gotten all of the formalities out of the way let me provide a bit of history about blindness and visual impairments.

History

According to an article published by EHO, the earliest medical records known to us, derived from the ancient river cultures of Mesopotamia, and they show that even 5000 years ago eye care was a specialty in its own right. In fact, a papyrus was found naming 20 eye diseases, and Herodotus, a Greek historian, visited Egypt in the fifth century BC and met doctors who specialized in opthomology, because of the high incidence of blindness. From the beginning of time blindness and other vision related issues have left the people affected by them shunned by the community and sometimes their own families.