NEWS|| HEALTH SECTOR

 FG approves initiative to provide 5 million eyeglasses to Nigerians with vision impairment

President Bola Tinubu, have declared his unwavering support for a partnership between the Federal Ministry of Health’s National Eye Health Programme and the Peek Vision Foundation that will provide more than 5 million pairs of eyeglasses to Nigerians with sight impairments.

The President said he has a sentimental desire to vigorously pursue access to eye care for the poor and vulnerable in the society, because he made that promise to his late mother who also had to treat an eye defect at a point in her life.

He emphasised the pressing need for improved eye health services in Nigeria, and expressed concern about the more than 24 million Nigerians grappling with varying degrees of vision impairments.

the Founder and CEO of Peek Vision Foundation and Co-Founder of the Vision Catalyst Fund, Prof. Andrew Bastawrous also expressed concern that eye care is still chronically under-resourced in many countries, adding that the estimates in Nigeria show that 0.0002 percent of the health budget is spent on eye health.

At the end of the event, 5he coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare Professor Mohammed Ali Pate presented a National Policy Document on Eye Health to the President.