MOH, SZRECC mark World Glaucoma Week

The World Glaucoma Week is celebrated from 10th -16th March each year to draw attention to the silent thief of sight, while encouraging people to go for early testing. The theme for this year’s event is -‘Uniting for a Glaucoma Free World’. 

At a presser held on Tuesday at the Sheikh Zayed Regional Eye Care Centre (SZRECC), Sarjo Kanyi, programme manager, National Eye Health Programme (NEHP), dislcosed that the Ministry and partners -SZRECC have been celebrating the week for the past ten years.

He acknowlwdged that glaucoma is one of the leading causes of irrevisble blindness, saying the week is a global initiative organsied by the World Glaucoma Association during which they encourage patients, eyecare providers, health officials and the public in creating more awareness about the worldwide problem.

He spoke of their goal, which is to alert the public with regards to regular eye screening and optic nerve check so as to detect the problem early.

Kanyi also spoke about the availablity of the treatment of all forms of gluacoma in the country to prevent vision loss, saying the establishemnt of the National Eye Health Programme some three to four decades ago, series of activities were conducted through a national survey to determine the magnitude of the eye-related problems in the country.

He spoke about their line of event marking the week which include radio talk shows, eye screening sessions and that the public are encouraged to participate in the exercise in all the regions. 

For his part, Dr. Winston Ceesay, Chief Executive Officer, who doubles as Senior Consultant Opthalmologist at the Centre, reminded that glaucoma is one of the main causes of preventable irreversible blindness worldwide.

“It is a group of eye disorders that have few symptoms in their early stages but eventually lead to damage of the optic nerve which can then lead to vision loss or complete blindness.”

Dr. Ceesay recalled that in 2023, 1,004 cases of glaucoma were diagnosed at SZRECC and most of them are on treatment, pointing out that most of the time, the glaucoma patient is unaware of any vision loss.

He revealed that most of the times, elderly individuals, who are at the greatest risk for developing glaucoma, often attribute their loss of vision to just growing old.

The vision loss from glaucoma, he added, is silent, slow, progressive and it is irreversible, but it is treatable in the country. “Glaucoma blindness is preventable. The good news is that, glaucoma can be screened for, diagnosed and treated, here, in The Gambia.” 

Vincent Mendy, Regional Programme manager, One Sight, revealed that his institution is an international NGO that partners with governments across Africa and beyond in provding vision care to people, especially those who cannot acess vision care.

He recalled that since 2013, his institution has been partnering with the government in training staff and providing equipment to help diagnose glaucoma and other eye related diseases in the country. 

This, he said, is to complement the effort of the government in filling the vision care gap and is accessible to all. 

Mendy maintained that they also create awareness about the glaucoma, saying due to their sucess stories in The Gambia, the NGO has now expanded its services to 22 of African countries.

He also gave harrowing figures related to glaucoma cases across the globe, further stating that Africa is prone to this silent thief of sight and other high eye condition than the rest of the globe. 

He thus called on the need for more awareness to be able to address the issue.