BLINDNESS ON THE RISE IN KENYA, SAY HEALTH EXPERTS

Mr Ivan Omondi from the Kenya Society for the Blind displays a talking calculator used by the blind at Crowne Plaza hotel in Nairobi, on October 12, 2016. With him is Ms Isabel Karimi. PHOTO | ANTHONY OMUYA | NATION MEDIA GROUP 

By ELIZABETH MERA

The number of blind people in Kenya has increased even as the government decries the low number of eye specialists.

Currently, an estimated 224,000 people are blind while another 750,000 are visually impaired.

Whereas the World Health Organisation defines blindness as the complete or nearly complete inability to see, it defines being visually impaired as a decreased ability to see to a degree that causes problems not correctable by usual means, such as glasses.

Some of the leading causes of chronic blindness include cataract, glaucoma, age-related degeneration, diabetes, trachoma, and eye conditions in children (for instance caused by vitamin A deficiency).

Health experts say age-related blindness is increasing throughout the world, as is blindness due to uncontrolled diabetes but little investment is being made to address this. In Kenya for instance, there are only 110 trained ophthalmologists (eye specialists) against a population of more than 40 million.

VISUAL IMPAIRMENT

“We need to increase the capacity of human resource across the country if we are to address this public health problem,” said Elizabeth Oyugi, representing the private sector.

The experts also noted that despite progress being made in reducing the number of eyesight related problems through surgical techniques, cataract (affecting 47.9 per cent of population) remains the leading cause of visual impairment in all areas of the world, except for developed countries.

A cataract is a clouding of the eye’s natural lens, which lies behind the iris and the pupil. “Blindness and low vision can be prevented and treated when detected early. Therefore, we are urging people to have their eyes examined on a regular basis,” said Health ministry’s head of ophthalmic services unit, Dr Michael Gichangi, at an event to mark World Sight Day in Nairobi on Wednesday.

Although 75 per cent of the diseases causing visual impairment are avoidable through cost-effective interventions, some require corrective surgeries such as corneal transplants, which can be done locally.

However, few people are willing to donate their cornea for transplantation to the visually impaired.

Since opening its eye cornea storage bank in 2010, Lions SightFirst Eye Hospital in Nairobi has been trying to raise awareness and urge Kenyans to pledge their corneas to the hospital “so that when they die the organs can be used to offer sight to thousands of blind children”.

To address the shortage of corneas, Dr Jyotee Trivedy, an ophthalmologist, said the hospital imports them from the US.
SOURCE: NMG