Nairobi: The World Health Organization (WHO) has acknowledged the reduction of vision challenges resulting from conditions such as vitamin A deficiency, onchocerciasis, and trachoma in the African continent. WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Mohamed Yakub Janabi, attributed the improvement to various efforts undertaken to reduce vision loss and blindness, although significant challenges persist across the African region.
According to Kenya News Agency, as the world marks World Sight Day, observed annually on the second Thursday of October, Dr. Janabi called for an urgent need for stronger health system integration, increased investment, and targeted strategies to improve access to quality eye care services. However, he noted that eye health faced new challenges due to aging populations, unhealthy lifestyles, environmental factors, inadequate knowledge of good eye health practices, low awareness, altered diets, sedentary lifestyles, and an increase in non-communicable diseases. These factors have resulted in an increase in preventable vision impairment and blindness, such as refractive errors and cataracts.
The Regional Director highlighted that the current levels of service coverage underscore the magnitude of unmet need, with effective coverage for cataract surgery in the region standing at just 26 percent. This means that only about one in four individuals requiring cataract surgery have undergone the procedure with a good visual outcome. Similarly, WHO estimates that effective refractive error coverage is at 30 percent in the region, indicating that only one in three people who need vision correction with eyeglasses have been successfully treated to achieve good vision.
Dr. Janabi emphasized the need for policymakers to utilize global platforms, such as World Sight Day, to raise public awareness and promote early detection. Countries are being encouraged to use WHO technical tools, including data collection instruments, situation analysis frameworks, and digital innovations like WHO Eyes, a free smartphone application for vision assessment, to support routine screening and strengthen policy and advocacy efforts.
Good vision significantly enhances overall well-being, academic performance, employment opportunities, and economic productivity. Member countries have been urged to increase awareness, reduce stigma, and empower individuals with sensory impairments. However, achieving this will entail developing national strategies aligned with WHO guidance, integrating sensory care and assistive technologies into health benefit packages with sustainable funding, expanding and training the health workforce, and incorporating sensory health indicators into national information systems to guide evidence-based policies.
In Kenya, Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has highlighted that 85 percent of vision loss is preventable, emphasizing the need for routine eye check-ups and affordable corrective treatments to ensure accessible eye care for everyone. The day serves to raise awareness about blindness and vision impairment, with the 2025 theme, ‘Taking Eye Care to the Heart of Decision Making,’ aiming to integrate eye health into broader health policies and initiatives.
Kenya is among the eight member states in the African region that have committed to and initiated the implementation of the SPECS 2030 initiative, which aims to significantly increase the effective coverage of refractive error services to achieve a 40 percent increase in people accessing glasses by 2030. Kenya has already formed a National Technical Working Group (TWG) to develop an action plan for expanding access to quality eye care and integrating it into national health systems.