Dr. Adeola Onakoya Glaucoma has no cure and many people have no idea that they have it. It is only when they undergo free eye screening exercises like this that they often discover they have glaucoma. Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, and Head Glaucoma Services, Department of Ophthalmology, College of Medicine/Lagos University Teaching Hospital, CMUL, Dr. Adeola Onakoya, describes glaucoma aptly. She said glaucoma is a disease of the optic nerve with almost eight million cases worldwide. “The optic nerve is responsible for transmitting images from the retina which is the specialized light sensing tissue to the brain. “When this nerve is diseased it becomes glaucoma. It is often associated with the build up of pressure inside the eye and/or decreased blood flow of the optic nerve, although high eye pressure also referred to as intraocular pressure or ocular hypertension sometimes leads to glaucoma. Glaucoma is referred to as “the silent thief of sight”. This is because it slowly damages the eye and causes irreversible loss of vision to the sufferer. Factors Factors such as advancing age, a family history of glaucoma, being black, high pressure in the eye, migraine, high blood pressure, etc are relevant. Open-angle glaucoma is the most common form of glaucoma. The drainage of the eye can become blocked leading to gradual increased eye pressure. Open-angle glaucoma accounts for 95 percent of the glaucoma cases in the country. It is painless and does not have acute attacks, patients with this form of glaucoma are not aware that they have glaucoma until the optic nerve is already damaged. Onakoya said glaucoma does not occur with readily noticeable symptoms that cause the irreversible optic nerve damage. However, basic symptoms like difficulty focusing on near or distant objects, double vision, excess teary or watery eyes, seeing spots, or ghost-like images, blurred vision, sudden loss of vision in one eye, squinting or blinking are common. Treatment and prevention Treatment for glaucoma depends on the nature and severity. Glaucoma is not curable but is controllable to prevent blindness. Check your eyes regularly at least once in two years. She laments that glaucoma as a non-communicable disease and is not properly addressed compared to communicable diseases. “Creating awareness is necessary to enable people know about the signs and symptoms as well as the complications of glaucoma. If there are signs, the patient can see an ophthalmologist so that appropriate treatment can be adopted in good time.” Our involvement in the business of sight– Mrs. Margaret Olele, Corporate Affairs/Health and Value Director, Pfizer Specialities 
Mrs. Magaret Olele Pfizer is known worldwide to be very much into treatment of two diseases that impact sight, and these are glaucoma and trachoma. Pfizer is known across Africa to have donated a lot of medications, antibiotics for treatment of blinding trachoma and now we are working closely from the outset with the Association to ensure they have a platform where their voices will be heard and where the right information and awareness will be created around glaucoma which a lot of people do not know about because it comes like a thief in the night. It is also to empower them and look at the opportunities where people can support for better access to good quality medicines. Early prevention One of the things we looked is that screening is a critical aspect of early prevention. If people are not checked, they would not know and by the time they get to know it may be too late. So screening is a critical area and we are into prevention in this different forms and this is one of such preventive measures against blindness, The family Glaucoma impacts a whole family if a member of one family goes blind, you know what that means. The public lecture, this year focused on the family, because sometimes when one person has glaucoma in the family there may be likelihood that someone else would have it as well. The lecture was to create awareness about what is happening and when to go see the doctor and also to let people know that the Association exists. When people work together as a team, they get to know how they can resolve their issues, For instance, the patients may get their medicines cheaper if they pool resources together, so this collaboration strengthens the platform and it is critical for the glaucoma patient because they get better information and access to treatment. Partnerships People should begin to look at the more sustainable private partnerships. Now we should be talking about the public-private and public-public initiatives that can help sustain action across Nigeria. What government should begin to look at is how we can pool a team of partners that can help resolve this challenge. Policy Issues around policy are the direction we should be looking at. Because when there is a policy, it creates a framework that would guide the implementation and all. So part of the strengthening of the process by strengthening an association like this is to mobilise advocacy. And drive discussion around policy because policy doesn’t just come like that. It comes from people talking about it and having the commitment that it happens getting government to hear the voice of the people. Policy is critical and a way this can be ensured is to strengthen the association so that there will be a strong voice to get attention of government. Screening When you screen you have to look at risk factors. You want to look at who are the people who may have these risk factors and when you may begin to dovetail into who may be at risk in the family. When you do these screenings you tend to pick some people and tend to save the family. When we are doing screenings my concern is what happens afterwards? The best thing is to create a model that would ensure that these people are continually able to get the medication as opposed to that one off. Because the reality is how many people would get it free and for how long? So why not work out a model that would ensure people have access to this good quality medicine at a price they can afford and make their voices sheard that people that would consider this as a sustainable corporate enterprise.Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2016/04/beware-silent-thief-sight/
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