JEDDAH, 24 March 2006 — Saudi and international health experts attended a workshop at King Khaled Eye Specialist Hospital in Riyadh to work out a national plan to combat blindness in the Kingdom. The workshop opened by Health Minister Hamad Al-Manie on Tuesday ended yesterday.
Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Ahmed, chairman of the National Committee to Combat Blindness and chairman of the Saudi Ophthalmic Society, said yesterday the workshop discussed threadbare an intensive plan to eliminate all eye diseases within five years.
On Tuesday, he told experts there were a total of 161 million visually impaired people in the world. “About 90 percent of these people live in the developing countries,” he added. He quoted a study showing that at least one person loses his vision every 20 minutes and one child every minute. “These appalling figures should encourage us to work hard to protect the eyes of both Saudis and expatriates in the country.”
Al-Jazirah Arabic daily quoted Health Minister Al-Manie as saying on Tuesday: “The workshop would come out with detailed plans with clear objectives and programs to eliminate blindness from the country, instead of making general proposals.”
Al-Manie said the three-day workshop was organized as part of the ministry’s support for the Vision 2020: The Right to Sight, a global initiative of the World Health Organization to eliminate avoidable blindness.
The program is a partnership between the WHO and the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), a large umbrella organization for eye-care professional groups and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) involved in eye-care.
Quoting a WHO report, Al-Manie said an alarming number of some 37 million in the world were suffering from blindness annually. “One to two million people lose their sight a year. About 75 percent of these cases could have been avoided or treated in an early stage,” Al-Manie said.
There are 230,000 visually impaired people in Saudi Arabia, a number that includes the partially blind, according to a study conducted by Ebsar Center at Magrabi Hospital in Jeddah.
The number is expected to increase to 500,000 by 2025, considering the country’s population growth at 3.27 percent, the center warned.
Four WHO and IAPB experts and some 30 specialists from the Kingdom are attending the workshop in Riyadh. Awad Abuzaid, a representative of the WHO, reiterated his organization’s support for member countries to set out health plans.
The Vision 2020 seeks the development of a sustainable comprehensive health-care system to ensure the best possible vision for all people and thereby improve quality of life. The Global Initiative for the Elimination of Avoidable Blindness, a document prepared by WHO in association with NGOs explains the rationale, global strategy, and targets for the program.
