The Nigerian government says it will distribute five million pairs of reading glasses and provide 25,000 subsidised cataract surgeries by 2027 to improve access to eye care and prevent avoidable blindness.

Deputy health minister Iziaq Salako made these commitments while delivering his closing remarks at the Global Summit for Eye Health in St John’s, Antigua and Barbuda, on Tuesday.

Mr Salako said the government would also train 15,000 primary healthcare workers, increase the active eye care workforce by 20 per cent and incorporate primary eye care into the Basic Health Care Provision Fund.

He said Nigeria was also aiming for a 30-point improvement in Effective Cataract Surgical Coverage by 2030.

According to the minister, the initiatives are intended to provide more than 25 million vulnerable Nigerians, particularly women, older persons and rural communities, with access to quality eye care.

Mr Salako described eye health as vital to human development, noting that avoidable vision loss affects education, household welfare, personal safety and national productivity.

He recounted his participation in the JigiBola eye care initiative in Lagos about 25 years ago, saying its evolution into the national Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative, known as JigiBola 2.0, demonstrated how state programmes could be scaled up nationally.

The minister also highlighted Nigeria’s participation in the World Health Organisation’s SEE 2045 initiative to intensify efforts to eliminate cataract-related blindness.

He noted that meeting the targets requires sustained domestic funding, public-private partnerships and collaboration with international development partners.

Mr Salako urged participating countries and partners to turn their commitments into concrete action, saying success would be measured by the number of people whose sight was protected or restored.