As Tanzania marked the World Sight Day on October 13 this week, short-sightedness and long-sightedness continue to be a problem in the country affecting youth from the age of 18 and below PHOTO |FILE

By  Shimbo Pastory, C.S.Sp.

This year, the World Sight Day was observed on October 13 to draw our attention to the reality of vision impairments and blindness globally.

The World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) stated that this was a special day to recognise the good work done by thousands of researchers and practice optometrists.

It also recognises the work of ophthalmologists, opticians, and orthoptists all over the world working towards protecting and improving human sight and treatment of eye diseases and visual impairments.

Globally, according to WHO, at least one billion people live with near or distance vision impairment that could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed. Also, 90 percent of people with blindness live in low income countries.

The theme for the World Sight Day this year is ‘Love your Eyes,’ and is a timely recommendation as modern lifestyles, nutrition, climate and technology pose a lot of danger to human eye.

Eye health is crucial for the overall socioeconomic progress as it is not only about sight, but the ‘vision’ of the future. That is why it is an important aspect of holistic health and wellbeing as specified in the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

A society without good eye health is in a lot of endangerment, as chances are that efficiency will be reduced in its productive activities, triggering an impact in its quality of life.

Severe vision impairments in children can result in low achievements in school. It can also be a cause of depression in adults. Good eye health impacts directly affect our survival and quality of life, thus the reason blindness was linked with poverty and inequality, existing especially in low-income countries.

Also Read: Maintaining eye health as you age

As we commemorate this day, there are two questions that are relevant to the reality of our country Tanzania.

We need to look at whether the eye health accessible, inclusive and affordable for all? There was also a need to see at the average Tanzanians, in towns and in villages, educated on appropriate eye care especially in relation to visual technologies, work environments and climate change?

It was indeed true that many people shun from eye clinics because of the cost of treatment, they would rather choose to bear the pain and trust natural healing process.

It was also not news that most people go to eye clinics when they have complicated issues already, while such escalations could have been prevented had they been sensitised to attend eye clinics regularly or promptly upon noticing anything unusual in their eyes.

The WHO says access to quality eye care globally was still an issue as many governments have not yet prioritised it in their integral human empowerment and development schemes.

Research by Thomas Bisika, found out that unsupervised traditional therapeutic and medical eye care was common in African cultures, giving specific examples from Malawi.

The research says despite the sensitiveness of eye to external environment, and the hazards involved, it was a hard truth that people still risk to put herbs in their eyes just from hearsay.

Also Read: When eye problems come with age

Oftentimes, eye tests and treatments costs a fortune, making many people from low-income countries unaware of their vision impairments and reluctant to seek medical care.

Sensitisation programs are mostly undertaken in urban areas, leaving rural populations unaware of the treatable and preventable eye problems.

Dr Barnabas Mshangila, an ophthalmologist and head of eye department at the Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital says most young patients in the country aged 18 and below, were diagnosed with refractive error conditions.

“This is short-sightedness (myopia) and long-sightedness (hypermetropia)which can be corrected by use of special spectacles,” he says.

Dr Mshangila says there were so many cases of eye injuries which children sustain while playing or when exposed to hazardous environs.

According to him, the middle age group tends to be affected mostly by injuries and trauma caused by road and workplace accidents and diabetic retinopathy.

He says the ages above 52 years, were mostly encountered by cataract diseases , a situation where the eye’s naturally lens becomes cloudy.

This, he says was highly influenced by age, and glaucoma which comes with an accumulation of pressure within the eyeball, later resulting in total blindness.

According to him, communicable eye diseases have remained in a very low scale over the years, while eye allergies have been on the rise.

He says allergies on their own cannot impact ones vision, but responding to irritation by rubbing has been a notable cause of micro-scratches on the cornea which may result in eye redness, eye-watering, light sensitivity and impaired eyesight.

The medical practitioner also pointed out that for the past decade, Tanzania has seen substantial improvements in eye health care. Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital, which covers for the southern highlands zone, together with Bugando Medical Center, a referral hospital for Lake Zone regions are well equipped to diagnose and treat cataracts as well as diabetic related eye problems.

The two hospitals use intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) as well as laser pan retinal photocoagulation (PRP), among others for eye treatments. This has greatly reduced referral travels to Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam and Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC) in Kilimanjaro region.

Dr Barnabas says the hospital has been engaging the community in the southern highlands zone through outreach programmes on weekly basis on eye health.

“We have been visiting periphery hospitals and health centres where we do screening and raise awareness of general eye health,” he says.

He said in observing the World Sight Day, the hospital came up with awareness programme through radio stations, that was run from October 10 - 13 this month.

“We have had also free eye screening here at the Mbeya referral hospital eye clinic. My advice to the public is that they should make effort to utilise this free service and come here for screening,” he said adding that at least they should have their eyes checked once every year to help prevent dead-end situations.

The outplay of visual technologies

Vision impairment affects people of all ages, however the concern has been on the rise on how the youth and young adults’ age groups utilises and interact with these advancements of technology.

It is estimated that people with smart phones expend a screen time of 3-5 hours every day on the digital gadgets like smart phones but and when added with the time they spend on big screens like televisions, gaming screens, desktop screens, tablets and laptops, the impact on their eye health was huge and horrifying.

It is therefore important to know that constant staring at digital screens has been the reason for eye-stress, blurred vision and long-term vision problems like short-sightedness.

With these effects, while allowing huge sales of these electronic gadgets, our government needs to devote its human resources in reviewing health and safety standards of these visual-technology devices as well as sensitising the society about eye problems associated with prolonged screen time, as eye health needs to be indiscriminately prioritised.

such that it amasses beneficiaries from all over the country. It is a global concern, especially as the world recovers from the shackles of Covid-19 pandemic, which escalated screen time globally. UNICEF researchers apportion pandemic screen time largely to social media and video games.

While such were good for that time, prolonging and normalizing such lifestyles, especially for young people, does not do their eyes any good. “Love your Eyes” is a message for everyone.

Additional report by Johnson Mwamasangula

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