27% of Malaysians have vision problems
TAWAU: The eye care campaign here hopes to create awareness among the community on early detention and treament on eye diseases.
Tawau Municipal Council (TMC) president Alijus Sipil said ‘Eye Care Everywhere’ has been selected by the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) as the World Vision Day 2018 for the purpose of raising public awareness on blindness and visual impairment as a global health concern.
He said according to the National Eye Survey II in 2014 which has been conducted on 413,000 people aged 50 and above throughout Malaysia, a total of 27 percent of the population in Malaysia suffered from vision problems due to cataract, myopia, and diabetic retinopathy.
These eye diseases can be treated and early detection of the disease can prevent blindness, he said when officiating the Tawau district level World Vision Day 2018 yesterday at TMC compound.
He said through this program it is hoped that eye diseases can be detected among the residents, who will then be given early treatment.
Alijus said the program also wished to give an understanding of eye diseases to the Tawau community and to provide awareness on eye health care.
In line with the theme of ‘eyecare everywhere’, he said those involved try to expand the inspection around Tawau with a mobile service. Among the activities that have been carried out are eye screening, eye health checks and references to the eye clinic of Tawau Hospital for the necessary cases, healthcare coverage of contact lenses and eye-ophthalmology, overall health screening, blood donation campaign and organ donation campaign.
He also congratulated the committee members of the program, Lions Club of Tawau Central, Rotary Club of Tawau, Tawau Hospital and all NGOs involved in organizing the program.