12 Oct 2015

Chief  health officer, Mr Setshwano Mokgweetsinyana, says Botswana is faced with the problem of blindness.

Speaking at the commemoration of World Sight Day in Gaborone recently, Mr Mokgweetsinyana said the leading causes of blindness were cataract, glaucoma and uncorrected refractive errors.

He said a 2014 survey found the prevalence of blindness in the country to be 5.4 per cent among people aged 50 years and above, an increase of 1.7 per cent from the 2007 survey. 

He noted that blindness and visual impairment had a large effect on home care with studies showing that they were significantly associated with higher medical care expenditure.

“Experts indicate that visual impairment is a major health issue with the World Health Organisation 2010 estimates showing that there were 285 million people with visual impairment globally,” he said.

He further explained that the number of visually impaired people were likely to increase due to the aging of the world population and increased life expectancy. 

Mr Mokgweetsinyana further stated that Botswana had embraced the Vision 2020 initiative, which is a global effort to prevent blindness by the year 2020. 

However, he said government‘s efforts could not be successful without the contribution of partners and other stakeholders.

“It is for this reason that we support and appreciate the existence of organisations which provide humanitarian services like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,” he said.

The president of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints Church, Mr Clement Matswagothata  said his church was committed to seeing the lives of people of Botswana changing for the better.

“As a church, we follow the example of Jesus Christ and try our best to reach out to everyone, regardless of their race, political or religious affiliation,” he said. 

He said the church found it fit to donate eye care equipment because eye treatment is a high priority to the church.

Mr Motswagothata highlighted that his church and the Ministry of Health have been working together in the past years to improve the health of Batswana. 

World Sight Day is an international commemoration held annually to focus on the problem of global blindness and visual impairment. It is observed every second Thursday of October and this year’s was themed Universal Eye Health, the Call to Action, Eye Care For All. Ends