Roundup: On World Sight Day: Sudan successful at reducing numbers of blind people

The number of blind individuals in Sudan 10 years ago was over 600,000, currently that number, however, has dropped down to 225,000, according to Sudan's Health Ministry.

The Ministry celebrated World Sight Day Thursday by organizing a march where blind individuals, ophthalmologists and representatives of organizations operating in the field of blindness control participated.

Dr. Balqis Al-Khair Al-Shafie, coordinator of Sudan's National Program for Blindness Control, speaking to Xinhua, said that "We celebrate World Sight Day October 8 this year under the motto "Eye care for all."

"Through celebrations, we educate people on vision preservation, inform the community about efforts exerted towards combating causes of vision loss, and urge official authorities and partners to cooperate towards achieving the overall objectives related to reducing loss of vision rates," she added.

She explained further that Sudan's national program for blindness control achieved immense success in previous years after vision loss rates dropped from 1.5 percent to 0.7 percent, pointing out that "the target is to reduce the rate to 0.3 percent by 2020."

She explained "this can be achieved by eliminating diseases leading to vision loss, where ongoing efforts exist to combat conditions such as cataract, responsible for about 55 percent of vision loss cases in Sudan."

She added that the Sudanese health ministry, the blindness control program, and partners facilitate the conduction of around 1,000 cataract surgeries annually.

In 2005, Sudan adopted a plan to combat vision loss called 'Vision 2020 Initiative' with the aim to eliminate causes of vision loss in Sudan, and limit the spread of Cataract and Trachoma, the main roots of vision loss in the country.

To this end, Somia Akad, Sudan's Minister of Health, told Xinhua that "we believe causes of vision loss in Sudan are characterized by health problems which can be addressed through disseminating services, increasing health awareness, education and raising citizens' concerns via early diagnosis."

"The ministry of health is committed to providing ophthalmologists at state level together with advanced methods of diagnosis and treatment," she noted.

Akad further commended the partners' efforts, the ministry of health, and national and foreign voluntary organizations, namely the Carter Center, British Sightsavers, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Sudanese sight societies.

Activities on World Sight Day in Sudan will last a month, and include free diagnosis at all Eye hospitals and centers in Sudan as of Thursday October 8. Enditem