At least four in every 10 people in Uganda are suffering from an eye defect, health experts have said.

According to a World report on vision issued by the World Health Organisation in 2019, more than 1 billion people worldwide are living with vision impairment because they do not get the care they need for conditions such as short and farsightedness, glaucoma and cataract.

Med Optics managing director, Dr Dralega Anguyo cited glaucoma as one of the silent killers of the eyes, saying that it is important for people to do proper eye examinations.

He, however, said glaucoma can occur at any age but is more common in older adults and it is one of the leading causes of blindness for people over the age of 60.

Dr Dralega Anguyo, managing director of med optics demonstrating how to examine eye defects at their new branch in Ntinda as Prof. Fabian Nabugooma looks on

Anguyo made the remarks on Thursday, October 14, 2022, during the World Sight Day celebrations in Ntinda, Kampala.

He explained that the condition can only be detected when a person goes for a proper eye examination, where the clinicians will look at the back of the eye and then also measure the pressures. 

Glaucoma is a group of eye diseases that can cause vision loss and blindness by damaging a nerve in the back of your eye called the optic nerve. Anguyo warned that glaucoma condition tends to run in families.

He also said that schoolchildren are at high risk of suffering from myopia commonly known as short-sightedness because the majority of them use gadgets such as computers, phones and TV which seem to affect their eyesight.

Shortsightedness is a common vision condition in which you can see objects near you clearly, but objects farther away are blurry. It occurs when the shape of your eye causes light rays to bend (refract) incorrectly, focusing images in front of your retina instead of on your retina.

Research done in Uganda has shown that gadgets such as TVs, mobile phones and computers have a long-term effect on sight.

According to researchers, the increasing number of children in Uganda with sight problems could have been exacerbated by this situation. Parents have to restrain their children from unnecessary exposure to such gadgets.

A 2014 research funded by the UK charity Fight for Sight, found that they could identify diseases such as glaucoma by looking at maps of people's eye movements while they watched a film.

Anguyo appealed to the Government for tax exemption on frames for eyeglasses, especially for children who are suffering from eye conditions. 

"If taxes are removed from child appliances, then they become easier and affordable,’’ he said.

Med-optics board chairperson Prof. Fabian Nabugooma appealed to parents to take good care of their children and ensure that they have good sight, reminding them that if they have any vision problems, they should seek professional advice.

Experts also attribute non-communicable diseases (NCD) such as diabetes and hypertension as silent causes of blindness.

According to Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) surveys 2012-2014, the prevalence of blindness in Uganda is 0.4%, which is equivalent to 160,000 Ugandans.

Globally, more than 253 million people are visually impaired, among them, 124 million have low vision, while 36 million are blind. Ugandans have been advised to avoid self-medication when facing eye problems.