Glaucoma, a viscous eye disease is the leading cause of irreversible blindness in Nigeria and globally. It is also the second commonest cause of blindnesss.
This is according to Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Salako, who revealed this in a press briefing at the Ministry’s headquarters in Abuja, on Monday, ahead of the 2025 World Glaucoma Week (WGW), aimed at educating the public about glaucoma, and the importance of regular eye check-ups.
WGW is a global initiative of the World Glaucoma Association, and the World Glaucoma Patient Association designed to raise awareness on glaucoma directed at patients, policymakers, eye-care service providers and the public.
During the briefing, the Minster represented by Dr. Michael Akpan, Director Port Health Division of the Ministry, said glaucoma is found in approximately 60.5 million persons globally, a data the Minister said the Ministry is well aware of, while about 87% of the figure are found in developing countries.
The Minister also stated that the Ministry has over the years supported and implemented targeted screening, public awareness programs, advocacy, improving patient journey through health system, leverage on technology and setting research priorities to improve patient outcomes.
“More recently, the Ministry, following a rigorous and collaborative process developed and launched the National Glaucoma Screening and Treatment Guidelines”, Dr. Salako said.
“These guidelines have been distributed to all states of the federation and the FCT. The document provides clinical and programmatic guidance for screening and management of glaucoma.
“Guidance on the setting up of patient support groups that put the patient at the centre of their care, improves access, increase adherence to lifelong management and improve their empowerment and social connections for improved outcomes is an important feature”, he enumerated.
To stop the threat of glaucoma, Dr. Salako said the Ministry, through the National Eye Health Programme (NEHP) is implementing on behalf of the Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu, the Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative Nigeria (ESCIN) also known as JigiBola 2.0.
The initiative aims to provide free vision screening and distribute 5 million pairs of reading glasses free to Nigerians in the next 3 years.
Following the launch of JigiBola 2.0 in 2023, the NEHP has been working in partnership with local and international partners including the Livelihood Impact Fund, Restoring Vision USA, and The Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) to scale up access to reading glasses in Nigeria for improving livelihoods particularly for persons 40years and above through the primary health care system.
So far, over a 100, 000 Nigerians have been screened and over 80,000 spectacles dispensed. The sustainability approach involved the setting up of vision centres where spectacles are provided at a subsidized rate. So far 3 States have been covered.
The system strengthening arm of the presidential initiative (Jigibola 2.0) has facilitated the integration of Primary Eye Care (PEC) into the Primary Health Care (PHC) System by empowering PHC workers in 15 states with the knowledge and skill to manage simple eye care conditions including dispensing of simple reading glasses, offer first aid and eye health education using the National Primary Eye Care Trainer and Trainee manuals.
The PEC integration also aims to improve the referral system between the 4 levels of health care—community, primary, secondary and tertiary levels.Glaucoma is an eye condition that damages the optic nerve resulting to loss of peripheral vision in the beginning, and blindness at advanced stages.
It is also described as “the silent thief of sight” as it develops slowly, and vision can be greatly impaired before any signs or symptoms are apparent.
WGW is an annual event held every second week of March. The theme for this year is “Uniting for a Glaucoma Free World; See the Future Clearly”.
The goal is to lay emphasis on the importance of regular eye checks and early diagnosis of this largely asymptomatic and devastating disease, thus preserving the vision of those affected.