{"id":35988,"date":"2022-08-23T20:13:05","date_gmt":"2022-08-23T20:13:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues"},"modified":"2022-08-23T20:37:14","modified_gmt":"2022-08-23T20:37:14","slug":"lango-battles-eye-related-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues","title":{"rendered":"Lango battles eye-related issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. <\/strong><\/span>Mr Samwiri Obira may become permanently blind if an operation to correct a defect on his eyes proves unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Today, poor vision is the major life-threatening condition for the 90-year-old resident of Abali Village, Alebere Parish, Itek Sub-county in Lira District.<\/p>\n

The farmer started experiencing vision loss in 2010.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we brought him to Lira hospital in 2012, grandfather was treated at the hospital\u2019s eye department but his condition has not improved,\u201d his granddaughter, Ms Teddy Atim, said.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now he cannot walk or eat without the support of a family member because of his poor vision,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

This is not the only case of visual impairment in Lango Sub-region.<\/p>\n

Ms Dorcus Ogali, 42, a resident of Adaganwata Village, Barr Sub-county in Lira District, has been suffering from poor vision for the last two years. Unfortunately, she has not received treatment due to financial problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel a lot of pain in my right eye and at 1pm, I don\u2019t see anything at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In 2012, Ms Ogali was diagnosed with high blood pressure at Lira hospital.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn December 17, 2021, my 17-year-old daughter informed me about the free eye camp at Lira hospital. I then hired a boda boda at Shs5,000 to come for the free eye checkup and cataract surgery but when we arrived at the hospital, eye specialists told us that they could not attend to us because of the increasing cases of Covid-19 in Uganda,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mr Mark Iben, 53, an eye patient and a resident of Arwotngo Parish, Okwang Sub-county in Otuke District, said the problem of visual impairment has not spared Otuke.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2021, more than 200 people with different eye diseases from Otuke went for a free eye camp at Lira Regional Referral Hospital but were not attended to because eye specialists had already left,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Robert Ogwal, 76, a resident of Akongo Village, Okwang Sub-county in Otuke District, said: \u201cI have been suffering from vision loss since December 15, 2018. It started by itching and worsened around October 2021.\u201d<\/p>\n

This newspaper has learnt that there is only one ophthalmologist at Lira Regional Referral Hospital handling the entire Lango Sub-region, with a total population of more than 2.1 million people.<\/p>\n

For a person with eye problems to be operated on at a private health facility, he or she needs not less than Shs4 million.<\/p>\n

For two consecutive times, Pakistan Association Lira with support from Overseas Pakistanis Global Foundation Africa (OPGFA) organised a free eye camp at Lira Regional Referral Hospital.<\/p>\n

However, not every patient was lucky to benefit from the programme due to inadequate specialists.<\/p>\n

Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, the Minister of Health, said eye diseases have remained a big challenge in Lango. The sub-region consists of Lira, Oyam, Kole, Apac, Dokolo, Otuke, Amolatar, Alebtong and Kwania districts.<\/p>\n

She said a huge number of patients turned up to the eye camp at Lira hospital in December 2021 but the specialists left behind a big backlog.<\/p>\n

Dr Ahmad Sohail, the Pakistan medical team leader, said there is need for eye care services in Uganda.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd with your help we will continue to provide the service,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Hassan Wazir, the Pakistan High Commissioner to Uganda, applauded government for facilitating Pakistan doctors to conduct eye surgeries across the country without difficulty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government of Pakistan wishes to express its utmost happiness to our community living everywhere across the globe. We are proud of them. We take pride in their activities and the Pakistan High Commission in Uganda will always be there to facilitate them to extend best services to the community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI call upon all the people who have abilities to serve the community whether they are in Uganda, whether they are in Pakistan or somewhere else to come forward to assist the people who need the assistance the most,\u201d the ambassador added.<\/p>\n

The bigger picture<\/b><\/p>\n

Ophthalmology remains a neglected public health issue with limited data on the prevalence of visual impairment overall. Uganda\u2019s prevalence of blindness stands at about one percent.<\/p>\n

According to the National Population and Housing Census, 2014, northern Uganda accounted for 32 percent of all individuals with visual impairment with 75 percent avoidable blindness.<\/p>\n

Poor coverage of basic and secondary level eye care services largely contributed to this.<\/p>\n

The situation worsened even more in 2017 due to the increase of South Sudanese refugees and the consequent congestion of the existing eye health facilities, according to Doctors with Africa CUAMM.<\/p>\n

In northern Uganda, the common eye diseases include cataract trachoma, onchocerciasis, corneal scars, glaucoma, uveitis and optic nerve error.<\/p>\n

However, people who need access to eye care are constrained by the lack of specialist doctors, expensive medication and poor funding to eye health in the region.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Uganda<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Uganda. Mr Samwiri Obira may become permanently blind if an operation to correct a defect on his eyes proves unsuccessful. Today, poor vision is the major life-threatening condition for the 90-year-old resident of Abali Village, Alebere Parish, Itek Sub-county in Lira District. The farmer started experiencing vision loss in 2010. \u201cWhen we brought […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":35987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,8],"tags":[233,240,234],"class_list":["post-35988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-uganda","tag-uganda"],"yoast_head":"\nLango battles eye-related issues - Uganda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mr Samwiri Obira may become permanently blind if an operation to correct a defect on his eyes proves unsuccessful. Toda ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lango battles eye-related issues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mr Samwiri Obira may become permanently blind if an operation to correct a defect on his eyes proves unsuccessful. Toda ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Uganda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-08-23T20:13:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-08-23T20:37:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_26-63053a6665d28.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"540\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Lango battles eye-related issues\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-23T20:13:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-23T20:37:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues\"},\"wordCount\":793,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_26-63053a6665d28.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Uganda\",\"uganda\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues\",\"name\":\"Lango battles eye-related issues - Uganda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_26-63053a6665d28.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-08-23T20:13:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-08-23T20:37:14+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Mr Samwiri Obira may become permanently blind if an operation to correct a defect on his eyes proves unsuccessful. Toda ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_26-63053a6665d28.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_26-63053a6665d28.jpg\",\"width\":720,\"height\":540,\"caption\":\"Lango battles eye-related issues\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lango battles eye-related issues\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/\",\"name\":\"Uganda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lango battles eye-related issues - Uganda","description":"Mr Samwiri Obira may become permanently blind if an operation to correct a defect on his eyes proves unsuccessful. Toda ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lango battles eye-related issues","og_description":"Mr Samwiri Obira may become permanently blind if an operation to correct a defect on his eyes proves unsuccessful. Toda ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues","og_site_name":"Uganda","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2022-08-23T20:13:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-08-23T20:37:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":720,"height":540,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_26-63053a6665d28.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Lango battles eye-related issues","datePublished":"2022-08-23T20:13:05+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-23T20:37:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues"},"wordCount":793,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_26-63053a6665d28.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Uganda","uganda"],"articleSection":["all news","community","homepage-english"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues","name":"Lango battles eye-related issues - Uganda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_26-63053a6665d28.jpg","datePublished":"2022-08-23T20:13:05+00:00","dateModified":"2022-08-23T20:37:14+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Mr Samwiri Obira may become permanently blind if an operation to correct a defect on his eyes proves unsuccessful. Toda ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_26-63053a6665d28.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/uganda\/sites\/34\/2022\/08\/postQueueImg_26-63053a6665d28.jpg","width":720,"height":540,"caption":"Lango battles eye-related issues"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/all-news\/lango-battles-eye-related-issues#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lango battles eye-related issues"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/","name":"Uganda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/uganda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}