2009 Cataract Surgical Outreach Service In Edo North Senatorial District, Nigeria

1. Dr. Peter Edoba
2. Dr. Prince Evboumwan Iziegbe
3. Dr. Prince Elvis Ohenzuwa

Central Hospital, Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria

Purpose: The study was conducted to determine the magnitude and pattern of the 2009 Cataract surgical service in Edo North senatorial district of southern Nigeria, the National Eye centre, Abuja (a tertiary eye hospital) conducted a population-based cross sectional survey in the district.
The survey was conducted in order to generate baseline data on cataract blindness in the Edo North senatorial district.

Methods: A total of 3034 people out of 3700 eligible people were examined. The study population was chosen by two- stage cluster random sampling. In the first sampling stage, 40 cluster/ward were randomly chosen, while in the final stage, 90 people who were 40 years and above were selected in each ward.
Each of the selected persons had visual acuity recorded for both eyes.
Those with vision less than 3/60 in the better eyes were assessed for cataract. People with cataract were asked why they had not sought medical attention.

Results: Blindness prevalence of 4.1% (95% Cl 3.2% - 5.0%) was found among the sampled population. Cataract was responsible for 52.3% of the blindness. Thus the prevalence of cataract blindness was found to be 22% (95% Cl 1.6% - 2.8%).
The cataract surgical coverage (people) was 12.8% and the couching coverage (people) was 10.3%. The main barrier to seeking cataract surgery was the inability to afford the cost of service.

Conclusions: Conclusion: Districts with a high burden of cataract blindness should be provided with free or highly subsidized cataract outreach programmes with effective publicity and high quality surgery.