Globally, the body notes that more than 2.2 billion persons endure some form of visual impairment, more than half of which are preventable.
About 8.4 million Nigerians are likely to have some form of blindness, according to the World Health Organisation’s World vision report – Sight Savers.
The organisation in a statement said that the prevalence of blindness in Nigeria was 4.2 per cent.
With a projected population of 200 million people, the group concludes that over eight million Nigerians may be unable to use their visual senses.
The report said, “In Nigeria, the overall prevalence of blindness in all ages is 4.2 per cent.
“This means that given the population of 200 million, about 8.4 million Nigerians are blind.
“At least 80 per cent of blindness is avoidable and 50 per cent of blindness is due to untreated cataract.”[story_link align="left"]74921[/story_link]
Globally, the body notes that more than 2.2 billion persons endure some form of visual impairment, more than half of which are preventable.
The report added, “Globally, 2.2 billion people have some form of visual impairment. This ranges from mild visual impairment to blinding eye conditions.
“Nearly half of these could be prevented or easily treatable through cost effective measures.
“It is estimated that health institutions require $14.3bn to address the two major causes of treatable visual impairment – uncorrected refractive errors and cataract.”