220,000 Ghanaian blind - Veep
The Vice-president, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, has observed that even though research indicates that about eighty percent of blindness is avoidable, it is regrettable that an estimated 220,000 out of the projected 22 million people in Ghana are blind.
He said trachoma, which has been identified as the leading cause of preventable blindness in Ghana is a disease of poverty and isolation, adding that the communities afflicted by this disease have poor environmental sanitation in addition to lack of potable water.
The Veep said these in a speech read on his behalf by the Western Regional Minister, A E Amoah, at the opening of the first African Partners Networking Workshop for Operation Eyesight Universal Project Countries at the Busua beach resort Monday.
The four day workshop which is being attended by over sixty eye specialists from African countries including Malawi, Zambia, Kenya and Rwanda Ghana has it's theme as ' Entrenching Excellence in Eye Care in Africa".
It is being organised by Operation Eyesight Universal, a Canadian Non-Government Organisation concerned with eye care, in conjunction with the Ghana Health Service. The workshop aims at supporting and strengthening the commitment of key leaders in eye care in Africa.
It would also help in the improvement of African health systems by recognising the importance of high quality sustainable and integrated eye care approaches. Topics to be treated include ‘Strategic Leadership’, Primary eye care ‘ and ‘Emerging eye care issues in Africa ‘.
According to Alhaji Aliu Mahama, research indicates that there is a link between poverty and blindness, considering the fact that ninety percent of the world’s blind live in developing countries.
He said the delivery of eye care services in Ghana and to a large extent most African countries is faced with many challenges such as inadequate human resources and inadequate distribution of eye service providers.
These inadequacies, he said, have given rise to the emergence of traditional healers who prescribe medicine not medically efficacious for the eye.
He appealed to other non-governmental organisation in the eye care service in Ghana to step up capacity building initiatives in terms of continued medical education for eye care professionals, public education and awareness building programmes and technical assistance to improve access to quality eye care service.
The Chief Executive Officer of Operation Eyesight Universal, Patricia Ferguson disclosed that the Organisation has in the last four years supported seventeen national, provincial and district projects in five African countries.
He said trachoma, which has been identified as the leading cause of preventable blindness in Ghana is a disease of poverty and isolation, adding that the communities afflicted by this disease have poor environmental sanitation in addition to lack of potable water.
The Veep said these in a speech read on his behalf by the Western Regional Minister, A E Amoah, at the opening of the first African Partners Networking Workshop for Operation Eyesight Universal Project Countries at the Busua beach resort Monday.
The four day workshop which is being attended by over sixty eye specialists from African countries including Malawi, Zambia, Kenya and Rwanda Ghana has it's theme as ' Entrenching Excellence in Eye Care in Africa".
It is being organised by Operation Eyesight Universal, a Canadian Non-Government Organisation concerned with eye care, in conjunction with the Ghana Health Service. The workshop aims at supporting and strengthening the commitment of key leaders in eye care in Africa.
It would also help in the improvement of African health systems by recognising the importance of high quality sustainable and integrated eye care approaches. Topics to be treated include ‘Strategic Leadership’, Primary eye care ‘ and ‘Emerging eye care issues in Africa ‘.
According to Alhaji Aliu Mahama, research indicates that there is a link between poverty and blindness, considering the fact that ninety percent of the world’s blind live in developing countries.
He said the delivery of eye care services in Ghana and to a large extent most African countries is faced with many challenges such as inadequate human resources and inadequate distribution of eye service providers.
These inadequacies, he said, have given rise to the emergence of traditional healers who prescribe medicine not medically efficacious for the eye.
He appealed to other non-governmental organisation in the eye care service in Ghana to step up capacity building initiatives in terms of continued medical education for eye care professionals, public education and awareness building programmes and technical assistance to improve access to quality eye care service.
The Chief Executive Officer of Operation Eyesight Universal, Patricia Ferguson disclosed that the Organisation has in the last four years supported seventeen national, provincial and district projects in five African countries.
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