The HEALTH Xtra | OCTOBER, 2019
Xtra
04
WORLD SIGHT DAY 2019
Seeing the sight
Have you gotten your annual eye checkup yet?
T
HE World Sight Day is an aware-
ness day globally observed,
during which the blindness and
visual impairment are thrown
into the spotlight.
The Health met up with Dr
Nor Fariza Ngah, the Head ofNational Oph-
thalmology Services under the Ministry of
Health and Co-Chairman for World Sight Day
Lecture Series 2019 to fi nd out more about
World Sight Day.
“World Sight Day is a day where we
celebrate the importance of vision care.
Th is year, it is initiated by the World Health
Organisation (WHO) and IAPP (International
Agency for Prevention of Blindness) and will
be celebrated on October 10. Every year, WHO
will come up with a theme and this year it is
‘Vision First’,” says Dr Fariza.
Activities for World Sight Day
Dr Fariza, who is also department head at
Hospital Shah Alam, has activities planned
for World Sight Day. Hospital Shah Alam is the
centre for retinal disease, so her department
will be looking more into diabetic retinopathy,
age related macular degeneration and retinal
related diseases.
“We will be collaborating with the National
Eye Hospital for World Sight Day. Th ere will
be many screenings available to the public;
Dr Fazira feels that
we have been taking
our vision for granted
and more importance
needs to be placed on
eye care.
diabetic retinopathy screening, vision screen-
ing for adults as well as children, dry eye
screening because it is highly associated with
diabetic and tends to be ignored by patients.
We also have colour vision screening because
more and more people are getting concerned
about colour blindness.”
According to Dr Fariza, vision tends to be
taken for granted. Th ere are many cases where
youngsters come in with cornea ulcer due to
their habit of sleeping with their contact
lenses. She strongly believes it is vital to
educate them on the importance of taking
care of their eyes.
The role of optometry in
collaborative eye care
Th is year’s World Sight Day will be the fi rst
ever in bringing together optometrists and
ophthalmologists and Dr Fazira believes this
step will be very benefi cial to eye care.
“In MOH, the optometrists and oph-
thalmologist work together in the same
department. We complement each other. It
should be similar out there. After all, we do
have more optometrists than ophthalmologist.
High vision for
World Sight Day 2019
Early detection prevents vision loss
T
HE rate of blindness is very high,
not only amongst Malaysians,
but for the rest of the world.
According to Nor Azizah
Ismail, Secretary for the Malay-
sian Optical Council (MOC) and
Co-Chairman for World Sight Day Lecture
Series 2019, the causes of blindness can be
prevented with early detection.
“Eye diseases are usually asymptomatic
(no symptoms), it’s only realised when we
experience vision loss. For those who go to
see optometrists because of poor vision, they
may need glasses to see more clearly,” says
Nor Azizah.
“Optometrists can also detect the disease
of the individual after a thorough examina-
tion and screening. Not many people know
that optometrists actually play a huge role
when it comes to eye care.”
“Th e main causes of visual impairment for
those with visual and vision impairments are
cataract for adults and myopia for children.
Th is is followed by uncharacterised refractive
error (individuals who have vision issues but
are not corrected) which is the second most
common eye problem.”
She said awareness on eye care was very
low, with about 14 per cent of people suf-
fering from eye problems not doing further
checks.
“World Sight Day is a World Health Orga-
Nor Azizah, Secretary
of the Malaysian
Optical Council said
over 14 per cent of
people are suff ering
from eye issues due to
not going for further
checks.
nization (WHO) initiative and we at MOC
are responsible for registering optometrists
(optometrists and opticians) throughout
Malaysia.”
Amblyopia and vision impairment screen-
ing (AVIS)
Th e AVIS programme was launched in
2017 to identify children with visual impair-
ments before they begin pre-school through
early screening and education. Th e Malaysian
Optometric Association (AMO) has also
partnered with the Ministry of Health to
invite more optometrists to provide fi rst-aid
glasses to pre-school students.
“Children with vision problems need be
treated at an early age to prevent eye issues.
Th e initiative is so that prevention of vision
problems can be done early.
“Eighty-fi ve per cent of children’s learn-
ing actually depends on their vision. Studies
have shown that most of these children are
actually smart, but their eyesight is unclear
but they do not know how to speak out about
their vision issues.”
Diabetes and your eyes
MOH has also released the Clinical Practice
Guidelines, a diabetic retinopathy screening
method for diabetic patients.
“Usually people with diabetes are unaware