The Jigawa Ministry of Health in collaboration with Health and Development Support (HANDS) is targeting about 500,000 persons for eye screening in the state.

The HANDS Programme Officer, Titus Peter, disclosed the figure to on Wednesday shortly after a stakeholders meeting in Birniwa Tasha and Diginsa communities, in the Birniwa Local Government Area of the state.

Mr Peter said the exercise, titled “Inclusive eye health project: Strengthening eye health in Jigawa State,” is expected to cover the entire 27 local government areas of the state.

He said the programme would be conducted in collaboration with the ministry in collaboration with CBM/BMZ, a foundation by the German Ministry of Finance Economic Cooperation and Development.

Mr Peter maintained that detecting the signs of eye ailments and referring cases to professional health facilities remained pivotal in the quest to combat blindness.

He said, “So we’re here to mobilise and sensitise community stakeholders to an inclusive and comprehensive eye health programme which has been going on in the state since 2022. To ensure that we get to the target audience, we have decided to engage two representatives from each of the community stakeholders such as traditional, religious/community leaders, traditional birth attendants, midwives, youth organisations, PWDs, and other relevant associations.

“Our target is to screen a total of 500,000 persons in Jigawa throughout the life span of the programme, which is between 2022 and 2026. So far, we’ve covered 30 communities in the state from 2023 to date. And this particular outing is for the month of December 2023, rounding off the 2024 community mobilisation and sensitisation.’’

He explained that the exercise was aimed at ensuring that people at the grassroots were well informed about the project to enable them to visit health facilities for the screening, diagnosis and treatment so that blindness could be controlled throughout the state.

The programme officer, who appreciated the turnout of the participants, urged them to spread the message to the nooks and crannies of their communities.

Also, the Deputy Coordinator, Neglected Tropical Diseases Primary Eye Care and Disease Control in the state, Saleh Muhammad, stressed the need for people to avail themselves of the opportunity of the screening.

Mr Muhammad said that early detection of eye problems to professionals at health facilities was pivotal in addressing the prevalence of blindness in the state.

He noted, “We have trained health workers on the importance of screening, treatment and referring people to high health facilities as the case may be. This organisation has been collaborating with the state government to build the capacity of health workers, mobilize communities to identify eye cases, and provide ophthalmic equipment to health facilities.’’

Salisu Ado, a participant from Nigerian Union of Teachers and Haruna Shuaibu from Diginsa Community Development Association, commended the team for the gesture and promised to spread the message accordingly.

(NAN)