KISUMU, Kenya, Apr 23 – The government has been urged to invest more on screening services for eye problems to avert blindness in the country.
Samson Waweru, executive director Kenya Society for the Blind (KSB), says screening can significantly reduce cases of blindness.
Waweru says early detection and treatment can prevent irreversible vision loss.
“When you look at the eye health care in the country, 1 out of every 4 persons is at the risk of going blind,” he said.
The director says the numbers are alarming thus the need for immediate interventions.
“We must ensure that those at risk must be enabled access to screening, glasses and surgery where necessary,” he said.
Waweru spoke in Kisumu on Wednesday during a three days’ performance review meeting of a donor funded Vision Impact Project (VIP), through Christian Blind Mission (CBM).
The VIP, launched in 2022, now in its final year implementation, covered the 7 counties of Embu, Meru, Kajiado, Kiambu, Kwale, Bomet and Vihiga.
Waweru says as the project comes to an end in the 7 counties, its sustainability has been worked on to ensure the gains are not eroded.
“We have worked with referral hospitals in the 7 counties to ensure they continue providing optical services which are affordable and quality to Kenyans,” he said.
He says the Society has worked closely with the targeted counties, through a Memorandum of Understating (MoU) to set up vision centers, where glasses can be easily accessed.
Through the project, a total of 5 million people have been screened, with Waweru saying the target is 8 million.
“We have managed to do 3,000 cataract surgeries and give glasses to over 124,000 community members and 22,000 reading glasses to school going children,” he said.
Michael Gichangi, head of ophthalmic services unit at the Ministry of Health says through VIP, the country has managed to implement a health sector strategy, tackling eye problems.
Gichangi says the idea was to build on the systems that already existed to see how to improve delivery of eye health services.
“During this project period, we witnessed good uptake of screening services in the targeted counties,” he said.
He announced that some counties have developed elaborate plans on how to move forward in service delivery in regard to eye health care.
David Munyendo, CBM Country Director, says they are working in partnership with government and local implementing partners to improve access to inclusive, comprehensive and integrated eye health services.
Munyendo says the significant contribution towards the country’s eye health services has a significant advancement of comprehensive people centered eye health services.
