The Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to eliminating avoidable blindness with the launch of SightQuest Nigeria, a 10-year national eye health programme by Christian Blind Mission (CBM) International, designed to expand inclusive and quality eye care services across the country.
Speaking at the programme’s launch on Thursday, the Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Iziaq Adekunle Salako, said the initiative would commence in five states, with plans to scale up to 14 states nationwide.
He disclosed that Nigeria’s blindness prevalence stands at 0.78 percent, with over 84 percent of cases linked to preventable or treatable conditions such as cataracts, glaucoma, refractive errors, corneal opacities, trachoma, onchocerciasis, and emerging diseases like diabetic retinopathy.
The minister attributed the high burden of vision impairment to poor awareness and limited access to quality eye care, which often forces patients to seek unorthodox treatments with damaging consequences.
He noted that vision loss reduces productivity, limits educational and employment opportunities, and negatively impacts economic growth, adding that global estimates place the annual cost of vision impairment at 411 billion dollars, while every dollar invested in eye care yields a return of 28 dollars.
Salako further revealed that under the Effective Spectacle Coverage Initiative Nigeria, also known as JigiBola 2.0, the federal government plans to distribute five million free reading glasses over four years. The programme, already implemented in 15 states, also integrates primary eye care into primary healthcare services, while the ministry targets at least 25,000 free cataract surgeries by the end of 2027.
Commending CBM International and its partners, the minister said the SightQuest Nigeria programme would strengthen eye health infrastructure, expand access to cataract surgery, improve the availability of spectacles, and enhance human resource capacity.
He expressed confidence that the initiative would help Nigeria meet global eye health and disability inclusion targets by 2030, while reaffirming the government’s commitment to affordable, accessible, and high-quality healthcare delivery nationwide.
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