Nigeria Accounts For 35% Of Africa’s Retinoblastoma Cases – Specialist

The National Eye Centre, Kaduna, has disclosed that Nigeria accounts for between 30 and 35 per cent of retinoblastoma cases in Africa.

Head of the Oculoplastic Unit of the Centre, Dr Ameen  Sulaiman, disclosed this during the Centre’s World Sight Day awareness campaign at the Kaduna Geographic Information Service (KADGIS).

He called for increased government support for the treatment of paediatric eye cancers, particularly retinoblastoma, a childhood cancer that affects the eye.

Sulaiman said cancer could affect different parts of the eye, listing ocular squamous cell neoplasia, Kaposi’s sarcoma, melanoma and retinoblastoma among the cancers that could occur.

He also said people living with HIV may be more prone to some eye cancers, noting that some patients present at health facilities with sudden loss of vision and swelling of the eye.

The awareness campaign featured free eye screening for KADGIS staff and members of the public, including blood sugar and blood pressure checks.

Speaking during the exercise, Chief Medical Director of the National Eye Centre, Dr Hassan Wali, said many Nigerians routinely undergo general medical check-ups without paying similar attention to their eyes.

Wali said some people only discovered that they had lost vision in one eye when they eventually underwent hospital examinations.

He stressed the importance of regular eye checks, noting that good vision was essential to people’s education, work and everyday lives.

“There are certain diseases that affect the eye like diabetes and hypertension which were associated with ageing before, but now we are seeing a new trend,” he said.

Wali said the Centre chose KADGIS for this year’s outreach to appreciate the Kaduna State Government and Governor Uba Sani for his intervention on the Centre’s land and donation of a bus to the institution.

He said the theme of this year’s World Sight Day, “Love Your Eyes,” was apt, urging Nigerians to take better care of their eyes.

On extending the campaign to rural communities, Wali said the Centre had lined up radio programmes in English, Hausa and other major languages to raise awareness on eye health.

He said the Centre was collaborating with allied eye health workers in local government areas and the Kaduna State Eye Care Programme to extend basic eye screening to communities.

According to him, the allied workers would conduct basic screening and refer complicated cases to bigger hospitals.

Also speaking, Director of Land Services, KADGIS, Abdullahi Tukur, who represented the Director-General, described the exercise as timely and informative.

Tukur said more than 90 per cent of KADGIS staff use laptops for between eight and nine hours daily, making the awareness on eye health particularly relevant to workers.

He said the knowledge gained on preventive measures would help improve the health and efficiency of staff.

Also speaking,  a staff member of the Administration Department, Sarah Dazhi the outreach provided an opportunity for workers who might otherwise struggle to make time for hospital visits.

Dazhi commended the National Eye Centre for bringing the screening to the workplace, saying the exercise, which included blood sugar and blood pressure checks, was a privilege for many staff.

She said the initiative would encourage workers to pay greater attention to their eye health rather than wait until they experienced serious vision problems.