COMMON EYE PROBLEM IN NIGERIA
Blindness is one of the prevalent handicaps in nigeria. Some of the factors causing blindness in this country include onchocerciasis (river blindness), viral and bacterial infections, and trauma. A report published by the British Empire Society for the blind revealed that Nigeria had a greatest number of blind people( in the colonial territories), ie, 31,200 blind people out of a population of 31.2million or 1,000 per 1,000,00 person (or one out of every 10) as compared with England and Wales(205 per100,00).
Ophthalmological studies showed that blindness was more prevalent in the northern part of Nigeria. In the northern province of kabobs, kastina, Zahra, and bids, the rate of blindness per 100,000 population was 549 ilorin the rate per 10,000 was 309; in kontogora the rate per 100,000 was 1000, while in yelwa, the rate per 100,00 was 1,400.
It was difficult to obtain figures for the rate of blindness in the southern part of Nigeria. In this part of the country it is a social stigma to be blind, or to have a relative who is blind. Most blind relatives, at this time, were kept or rather hidden, in the remotest part of the village. They were not permitted to come out of their hiding place unless it was in the darkest hours of the day and, at a time when they were unrecognized. It was far different in the northern part of Nigeria. Since Islamic religion favours begging for alms. So there was no statistics proving that there were more blind people in the northern part of Nigeria, as opposed to the southern part, since there is no figure for comparison.
Apart from blindness, as the number of literate Nigerians ( in western education and advanced knowledge in holy Quaran) increased difficulty in being able to read small print also become prevalent in Nigeria the number one priority in this country.
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AUTHOR:AMIBABY23