Int’l Sight Day: GHS, Orbis Int’l mark day with free eye screening
Orbis International in collaboration with Ghana Health Service (GHS ) has observed the 2022 International World Sight Day with a blindness simulation and eye screening exercise to help demystify blindness and draw attention to the global issue of eye health and vision impairment in line with this year’s World Sight Day’s “LOVE YOUR EYES.”
The Ashanti Regional Health Directorate of the in collaboration with Orbis international, a non-profit humanitarian organisation held the event which saw residents from three communities within Ahafo Ano South East in the Ashanti Region namely, Beposo, Mankranso and Kunsu.
while Some schools including Asante School for the deaf at Jamasi,Garden city special school, Asokore-Mampong and Community vocational school at Deduko also benefited the screening.
As part of the event,Orbis International also provided free eye screening for Asante School for the deaf at Jamasi, Garden city special school at Asokore-Mampong and Community vocational school at Deduko.
According to the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), at least one billion people have a vision impairment that could have been prevented or has yet to be addressed.
In an interview with the Ashanti Regional Health director Dr Emmanuel Tenkorang, he said: “It’s about having respect for people, believing in autonomy for all end-users and levelling the playing field by creating as much of an opportunity for a visually impaired person to explore in the society as someone who is not physically challenged or visually impaired.
We always think about diversity and inclusion in a very broad manner and ask ourselves “how we can make our various institutions usable and accessible to all.”
Globally but especially in Africa, students with visual impairment encounter many challenges including accessibility, stereotyping and discrimination and these challenges impede their social and academic development in schools.
In a sideline interview with Silver FM’s Akwadaa Nyame, some of the physically impaired people appealed to government places a premium on ensuring that government institutions and spatial design caters to the special needs of individuals who would otherwise have been disadvantaged because they are considerably impaired in their freedom of movement.
“Provide us with ramps and lifts alongside stairs in every institutions to shows that you care about our brothers and sisters with challenges,” they added.
The programs manager of Orbis international Madam Juanita Aryeh addressing the media during the screening disclosed that Orbis International decided to mark World Sight Day in collaboration with the GHS to access and reach out some vulnerable people in the region.
Madam Juanita then urged Ghanaian to take their eye health seriously. She said “your eyes can last you a lifetime if you take good care of them.”
World Sight Day (WSD) is an international day of awareness, held annually on every 13th, of October to focus attention on the global issue of eye health.
It became an official International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) event in the year 2000 and has been marked in different ways in countries around the world each year since then. WSD is coordinated by IAPB under the VISION 2020 Global Initiative.
By: Akwadaa Nyame – Silver FM
