Muhammad Garba
BMZ non-governmental organization founded by the German Federal Ministry of Finance. Economic Corporation and Development have called on the Media to support their campaign against childhood blindness and promote comprehensive inclusive eye Health in Jigawa state and beyond.
The call was made during a day workshop organized for working journalists in Jigawa state on the role of media in sensitizing and mobilizing the general public to join the campaign for achieving the desired goals.
Speaking at the occasion Mr Nenfot Paul a Programme Officer BMZ said community awareness and mobilization on detecting the signs of eye ailments and referring the case to professionals at health facilities is pivotal in addressing the prevalence of blindness in Jigawa state.
According to him, there are 23 local government areas in the state with high rates of childhood blindness and an urgent intervention of all stakeholders is needed to address it.
While presenting an overview of the BMZ activities in Jigawa state, Dr. Abdaulrahman Umar Aminu Primary Eye Care Coordinator State Ministry of Health said the partner has been collaborating with the Jigawa state government on health workers capacity building, Community mobilization for identification of eye cases and referral, also providing Ophthalmic equipment to health facilities for enhancing access to eye treatment services.
Dr. Umar noted that the provision of the types of equipment and capacity building made the services accessible and affordable to people, and given that, they are encouraging people to visit any nearest health facilities in any case of eye problem without delay “
He however revealed that, through their intervention over 70,000 Cataract surgeries and 48,000 Trichiasis surgeries were conducted free of charge in the state, and over 7,000 reading glasses were given to school children among others.
On his side, the Chairman of Jigawa State Correspondent Chapel, Comrade Muhammed Zangina has assured the commitment to journalists in supporting and promoting any activities that will strengthen the public healthcare services delivery.
He also promised to ensure effective public enlightenment on measures that need to be taken by the community in the fight against childhood blindness and accessing inclusive eye Healthcare.
