…..as FG Begins distribution of over 5 Million Free Eye Glasses Under Jigi Bola 2.0 Presidential Initiative
The Ekiti State government has distributed over 46,000 eye glasses as part efforts to address the problem of visual impairment and also improve the general eye health of residents of the state.
The Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Oyebanji Filani made the disclosure during the flag off ceremony of the Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative Nigeria (ESCIN), Jigi Bola 2.0, a Presidential initiative aimed at providing free glasses to individuals aged 40 and above across the nation.
Dr Filani represented by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Mrs Olusola Gbenga-Igotun said that the Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative was aimed at tackling and significantly reducing the burden of uncorrected refractive error diseases and visual impairment in Nigeria.
The Commissioner disclosed that an estimated 9.6 million Nigerians have poor near vision that could be corrected with reading glasses.
Dr Filani called on residents of the state with eye impairment to avail themselves of the opportunities by visiting all the designated centres for the free eye test and glasses to restore their vision
In his remarks, the Director Public Health, Ministry of Health, Dr Abayomi Ibrahim disclosed that the presidential initiative aims to distribute 5 million reading eye glasses to poor and vulnerable Nigerians to enhance their vision.
Dr Ibrahim disclosed that the initiative was also being supported by the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) was being carried out in 77 designated Primary Health centres across the 16 Local Government Areas in Ekiti State.
He noted that health personnel were trained and equipped with screening kits to ensure quality as well as improving uptake of primary eye care services.
Also speaking at the event, the representatives of the Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI), Messrs Tubosun Ayeni and Monsuru Ige said that their target was to distribute One Million eyeglasses in the 10 states selected for the first phase of the initiative representing 100,000 glasses per state.
They noted that a minimum of four health facilities in each LGA have been selected for the programme to ease distribution of the eyeglasses across the state.