The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, has restated government’s determination to check prevalence of vision impairment in the country.

He said that preventing avoidable blindness and vision impairment has a crucial role to play in reducing poverty to achieve sustainable development goals in Nigeria.

Besides, Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, has warned that the rise in militancy in the Niger Delta, which goal is to disrupt the country’s oil production capacity, is capable of affecting the country’s sustainable development goals.

The duo spoke yesterday at the yearly 40th conference of the Nigerian Optometric Association, with the theme “Sustainable development goals: The place of Optometry”, held at Dr. Obi Wali Conference Centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, yesterday.

Prof. Adewole, who was represented by the Chief Medical Officer, University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Prof. Aaron Ojule, said Nigeria is committed to the global action plan aimed at reducing prevalence of avoidable visual impairment by 25 per cent by 2019.

He said: “Preventing avoidable blindness and vision impairment has a crucial role to play in reducing poverty and can have a huge impact on communities and on overall effort to achieve SDGs. Vision impairment is both a cause and consequence of poverty.”

Adewole noted that globally, 80 per cent of blindness and vision loss is preventable or treatable if detected early enough. And preventing avoidable blindness, he stressed, means eliminating a known driver of poverty in the society.

Ngige, who was represented by Mr. Nnamdi Asomogha, said the theme of the conference clearly aligns with the policy direction of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, who was represented by the state Commissioner for Health, Odague Theophilus, said his administration intends to integrate optometric services in the state primary healthcare structure.

He said that aside from developing a frame-work for optometric practice in the state, the government would ensure the establishment of optometric centres in all the zonal and general hospitals in the state.

Meanwhile, the association’s president, Echendu Damian, said that the association is working towards her unique blueprint on the SDGs agenda.

Also, the keynote Speaker and Vice Chancellor of Abia State University, Prof. Eleazer Ikonne, said that the place of Optometry in achieving the SDGs is in the application of training and professional services such that visual impairment would not be a hindrance for anyone to get quality education.

He decried a situation whereby majority of medical practitioners in Nigeria are located in the cities, thus denying vast majority of Nigerians access to critical healthcare services like those of the optometrists.