The President of Lagos Achievers Lions Club, District 404 A3 Nigeria, Ifeoluwa Ibirogba, has called on the federal and state governments to prioritise school vision screenings to avoid eye health epidemics among school children in Nigeria.
The Club during a programme tagged, ‘Health Fair’ donated a CPAP bubble machine to Ikoyi Military Hospital and provided free medical screening which included, free eye, diabetes and blood pressure screening to pupils and residents of Obalende.
The beneficiary schools such as Dondon Barack Primary School, Jinadu Primary School, Obalende Primary School, Army Barack Primary School, Ireti Primary among others received first aid boxes, fire extinguishers, books, drugs and eyeglasses were distributed to pupils with various eye-related issues.
During the exercise, Ibirogba said aside from reducing hypertension and diabetes rates among adults, the goal is to deliver complementary medical and optical care to Obalende community members so as to minimise instances of permanent vision loss.
Lagos Achievers Lions Club, Region Chairman, District 404 A3, Akeem Adeleke said the initiative is to keep the environment safe and healthy and promote good neighbourliness.
Head Teacher, Army Children School Obalende, Helen Adeyemi, expressed her appreciation to Lagos Achievers Lions Club for their support to pupils in the community. “Students with visual impairment lack concentration and attention in the classroom.”
An Ophthalmologist, Dr. Blessing David said most of these pupils screened have myopic sight deficiency, “with this they will not be able to see the learning board.” She advised parents to take their children for visual screening yearly, as early detection of refractive errors can be corrected.
