[Music]
so I came round
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
you
I had expected I would talk to you for
20 minutes and if we had 20 minutes I
have less than that noun by the end of a
20 minute talk 1220 people will be blind
in our world because as you may know
every second somebody goes blind every
minute a child goes blind of the over
five hundred and twelve thousand
children who will go blind in 2016
half of them will not live to see their
next birthday some will be killed by the
same condition that caused the a
blindness others will be killed because
we don’t have an inclusive society our
people don’t know how to take care of
the blind for those who survive their
blindness especially in developing
countries like Nigeria when nine out of
every ten blind person lives life can be
held if an adult goes blind a child
drops out of school to lead the blind
adult to learn to bathe every day this
child struggle with hopelessness many of
them have lost their youth you will see
Sylvia leading the father on the next
slide let’s point to Sylvia you will see
the swelling on her face that swelling
on her face is not the Mac of the beast
it is the beginning of the next
generation of blindness that is an audio
caused by the microfilaria warm on
Kousaka volvulus river blindness and
that has caused the blindness of many
people Cross River State is an endemic
community for river blindness
but the good news I want to share with
you is that fortunately little Silvia
will not have to live with blindness the
pharmaceutical giant makes sharp and
dome as corporate social responsibility
donated medicine freely for the world so
that we can prevent blindness from river
blindness but that’s not how Sylvia’s
blindness will be presented Silvia will
not go blind because there is a
volunteer in a village free of charge
who make sure everybody infected with
river blindness gets their annual dose
of the medicine there is an association
between blindness and poverty in a
high-tech economy where precise vision
is needed to develop the software the
blind the visually impaired excluded and
there is a vicious cycle where poverty
causes blindness and poverty becomes a
consequence of blindness so it’s either
your blindness is caused by poverty or
your blindness will make you poor in
Nigeria the national prevalence study
for blindness gear was the prevalence of
blindness of 1.5 million people flying
in Nigeria that’s just a little below
the population of BIOS estate so we can
create a whole state of blind people for
every one person that is blind there are
six to seven other people living with
severe visual impairment and that number
for Nigeria stands at about 19 million
think about it that’s the population of
some African or European countries what
makes Nigeria’s blindness completely
unacceptable and even obscene is that 85
of the people living with blindness in
Nigeria avoidable blind this blindness
that we could have prevented or
blindness that we have the know-how and
technology to change that’s what makes
essa the WH o International
classification of diseases defines
blindness as inability to see at a
discount fingers at a distance of three
meters without the best in the better
eye with the best optical correction the
makers of that definition made one
assumption that everybody who is
visually impaired will have the optical
correction glasses just a pair of
glasses can prevent blindness in Cross
River State the leading cause of
blindness is error of refraction a pair
of glasses can change everything in
Algeria error of refraction is
responsible for 57 percent of a visual
impairment as a country as a country the
leading cause of blindness is cataract
cataract cataracts which can be reversed
just by surgery this white thing that
you see in the eye you will not see it
in other advanced countries because now
cataract surgery is not done to reverse
blindness as we do it here it is done to
prevent visual impairment next to
cataract in our environment is glaucoma
after glaucoma in Nigeria is trachoma
responsible for 15% of Nigeria’s
blindness staggering figure when you
consider that trachoma was eliminated
from Europe in the 19th century
trachoma is a disease that is associated
with the lack of potable water and a
poor environment
in town sanitation it’s not something
that should be mentioned in Nigeria but
today it is the third leading cause of
blindness in our country the imaging
blindness caused which will take us by
storm it’s diabetes diabetes mellitus
epidemic is upon us it’s expected that
in the next decade the percentage of
people with diabetes will increase by
109 percent by 2025 there will be over
500 million people living – in Europe in
in the Middle East is this a status
symbol if you are not a diabetic you
haven’t made it but it comes with
blindness is going to be the leading
cause of blindness in them working age
group with profound socio-economic
significance as socio-economical it
marginalized population at particular
risk we have the tools to eliminate
avoidable blindness but it it persists
because of inequity in access to I K it
persists because we have not released
the human compassion that is necessary
to make a difference in 1996 I turned
down several jobs outside the country to
accept a job in the university of
caliban University of caliber Teaching
Hospital had a salary less than 200% of
the office I had when I arrived the
hospital there was it a blind beggar as
a permanent fixture at the hospital gate
for two years I walked past this man but
I never saw him I saw his plate
occasionally I stopped by and dropped a
coin but I never saw the man one
afternoon my wife didn’t come to pick me
up on time so I stopped by the gate and
had a chat with the man I would just
wanted to know his name usually he had
a lot of sauce so you deal want to stay
there for too long but I stopped and
asked his name and I was impressed by
this diction his English was impeccable
I suddenly realized that this man hadn’t
always been poor
he had dabba teas he developed cat rot
he lost his job and when he lost his job
his wife left him and his world came
crumbling apart he moved to the hospital
get he begged for food to eat and bed
for medicines it wasn’t long many of the
doctors knew him many of the doctors
knew Big Joe so he could get free
consultation on top of it so I invited
big to the hospital and big cataract
surgery on him free of charge
Big Joe came for only one post-op visit
and disappeared six months later the
young man that walked into my office to
say thank you to me I did not recognize
him he said doctor you don’t recognize
me I said no way have we met it’s a
doctor I am Big Joe I brought my wife
I brought my child to come and say thank
you to you one act of kindness that cost
me nothing reunited a family change the
economic circumstance of this man and
let impact in his community in 1993 I
led the team that conducted the new
boosted survey of blindness and visual
impairment on the last day of that trip
I was involved in a road traffic
accident
that day I was the only person who came
out of the wreckage the people who
rescued my body from the wreckage forgot
my left here that day I lost many things
I lost friends for my friends perished
in that accident with the driver of the
vehicle I lost many things but I found
something I found human compassion there
were strangers on the roadside who were
willing to do everything me alive they
carried my body they did everything took
me to the hospital where I had treatment
I have had several treatments I have had
a lot of reconstructive surgeries in the
accident my jaw was crushed and mangled
so my just stands today as a tribute to
an outstanding maxillofacial surgeon
I’ve had many reconstructions I was a
senior registrar in ophthalmology that
means the rank just below consultant but
when I was released from hospital if I
had to work to pay for my bill he would
have taken me 15 years of saving all my
income to pay for my hospital bill
because like 99.2% of the Nigerian
population who are not covered in the
National Health Insurance Scheme I had
no insurance I could not pay when I went
to the medical director of the hospital
to negotiate how I will work for him to
settle my bill he looked at me and said
dr. Khanna I’m talking about doctor this
Jochen quad of blessed memory he looked
at me
dr. Khanna we are happy you are life I
will settle the bill
a man’s kindness the kindness that we
have in our society wrote of my bill he
gave me back my life when I was released
from the hospital I determined that I
will make my life count we have human
compassion it is from this sea of human
compassion that I hope we can work
together to prevent and eliminate
avoidable blindness the World Health
Organization has a program drawn up
elimination of avoidable blindness based
on a strategic try part of human
resource development infrastructure and
technology and the development of
specific targeted disease action but
what is lacking is human passion and
compassion to drive this program that
was done by a committee of experts
Nigeria had signed on to this November
2007 but since then health sector
allocation has continued to dwindle
unless we rise together and shout from
the rooftop we will continue to have
these appalling blindness indices we
have what it takes but we need passion
dangerous a country does not have a
diabetic retinopathy screening and
treatment program but we have one in
Cross River State we have one in the
teaching hospital we screen people for
free we expect that with a prevalence of
6.5 percent of diabetes in a city in
Caliban we have 10,000 people living
with diabetes we have 2,500 people
registered in our registry last year
only 534 came out for free screening
if you here can join us tell a hundred
people in a month who have diabetes to
come and screen their eyes you will be
the real champion how many people what I
discovered after my accident which I
must mentioned before I sit down is that
a driver had visual impairment and was
not wearing his glasses a driver also
had diabetes it’s possible that a pair
of glasses would have saved his life how
many people when you enter a cup ask
your driver whether he does wear glasses
how many people remember how many
Nigerian drivers if you go to Madame
Park will wear their glasses we can make
a difference join me when you meet
people ask them have you had your annual
I check have you had your annual
diabetic screening everybody should do
it once in a year and everybody that has
diabetes you can help invite them
let us make our lives count
[Applause]
you
so I came round
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
you
I had expected I would talk to you for
20 minutes and if we had 20 minutes I
have less than that noun by the end of a
20 minute talk 1220 people will be blind
in our world because as you may know
every second somebody goes blind every
minute a child goes blind of the over
five hundred and twelve thousand
children who will go blind in 2016
half of them will not live to see their
next birthday some will be killed by the
same condition that caused the a
blindness others will be killed because
we don’t have an inclusive society our
people don’t know how to take care of
the blind for those who survive their
blindness especially in developing
countries like Nigeria when nine out of
every ten blind person lives life can be
held if an adult goes blind a child
drops out of school to lead the blind
adult to learn to bathe every day this
child struggle with hopelessness many of
them have lost their youth you will see
Sylvia leading the father on the next
slide let’s point to Sylvia you will see
the swelling on her face that swelling
on her face is not the Mac of the beast
it is the beginning of the next
generation of blindness that is an audio
caused by the microfilaria warm on
Kousaka volvulus river blindness and
that has caused the blindness of many
people Cross River State is an endemic
community for river blindness
but the good news I want to share with
you is that fortunately little Silvia
will not have to live with blindness the
pharmaceutical giant makes sharp and
dome as corporate social responsibility
donated medicine freely for the world so
that we can prevent blindness from river
blindness but that’s not how Sylvia’s
blindness will be presented Silvia will
not go blind because there is a
volunteer in a village free of charge
who make sure everybody infected with
river blindness gets their annual dose
of the medicine there is an association
between blindness and poverty in a
high-tech economy where precise vision
is needed to develop the software the
blind the visually impaired excluded and
there is a vicious cycle where poverty
causes blindness and poverty becomes a
consequence of blindness so it’s either
your blindness is caused by poverty or
your blindness will make you poor in
Nigeria the national prevalence study
for blindness gear was the prevalence of
blindness of 1.5 million people flying
in Nigeria that’s just a little below
the population of BIOS estate so we can
create a whole state of blind people for
every one person that is blind there are
six to seven other people living with
severe visual impairment and that number
for Nigeria stands at about 19 million
think about it that’s the population of
some African or European countries what
makes Nigeria’s blindness completely
unacceptable and even obscene is that 85
of the people living with blindness in
Nigeria avoidable blind this blindness
that we could have prevented or
blindness that we have the know-how and
technology to change that’s what makes
essa the WH o International
classification of diseases defines
blindness as inability to see at a
discount fingers at a distance of three
meters without the best in the better
eye with the best optical correction the
makers of that definition made one
assumption that everybody who is
visually impaired will have the optical
correction glasses just a pair of
glasses can prevent blindness in Cross
River State the leading cause of
blindness is error of refraction a pair
of glasses can change everything in
Algeria error of refraction is
responsible for 57 percent of a visual
impairment as a country as a country the
leading cause of blindness is cataract
cataract cataracts which can be reversed
just by surgery this white thing that
you see in the eye you will not see it
in other advanced countries because now
cataract surgery is not done to reverse
blindness as we do it here it is done to
prevent visual impairment next to
cataract in our environment is glaucoma
after glaucoma in Nigeria is trachoma
responsible for 15% of Nigeria’s
blindness staggering figure when you
consider that trachoma was eliminated
from Europe in the 19th century
trachoma is a disease that is associated
with the lack of potable water and a
poor environment
in town sanitation it’s not something
that should be mentioned in Nigeria but
today it is the third leading cause of
blindness in our country the imaging
blindness caused which will take us by
storm it’s diabetes diabetes mellitus
epidemic is upon us it’s expected that
in the next decade the percentage of
people with diabetes will increase by
109 percent by 2025 there will be over
500 million people living – in Europe in
in the Middle East is this a status
symbol if you are not a diabetic you
haven’t made it but it comes with
blindness is going to be the leading
cause of blindness in them working age
group with profound socio-economic
significance as socio-economical it
marginalized population at particular
risk we have the tools to eliminate
avoidable blindness but it it persists
because of inequity in access to I K it
persists because we have not released
the human compassion that is necessary
to make a difference in 1996 I turned
down several jobs outside the country to
accept a job in the university of
caliban University of caliber Teaching
Hospital had a salary less than 200% of
the office I had when I arrived the
hospital there was it a blind beggar as
a permanent fixture at the hospital gate
for two years I walked past this man but
I never saw him I saw his plate
occasionally I stopped by and dropped a
coin but I never saw the man one
afternoon my wife didn’t come to pick me
up on time so I stopped by the gate and
had a chat with the man I would just
wanted to know his name usually he had
a lot of sauce so you deal want to stay
there for too long but I stopped and
asked his name and I was impressed by
this diction his English was impeccable
I suddenly realized that this man hadn’t
always been poor
he had dabba teas he developed cat rot
he lost his job and when he lost his job
his wife left him and his world came
crumbling apart he moved to the hospital
get he begged for food to eat and bed
for medicines it wasn’t long many of the
doctors knew him many of the doctors
knew Big Joe so he could get free
consultation on top of it so I invited
big to the hospital and big cataract
surgery on him free of charge
Big Joe came for only one post-op visit
and disappeared six months later the
young man that walked into my office to
say thank you to me I did not recognize
him he said doctor you don’t recognize
me I said no way have we met it’s a
doctor I am Big Joe I brought my wife
I brought my child to come and say thank
you to you one act of kindness that cost
me nothing reunited a family change the
economic circumstance of this man and
let impact in his community in 1993 I
led the team that conducted the new
boosted survey of blindness and visual
impairment on the last day of that trip
I was involved in a road traffic
accident
that day I was the only person who came
out of the wreckage the people who
rescued my body from the wreckage forgot
my left here that day I lost many things
I lost friends for my friends perished
in that accident with the driver of the
vehicle I lost many things but I found
something I found human compassion there
were strangers on the roadside who were
willing to do everything me alive they
carried my body they did everything took
me to the hospital where I had treatment
I have had several treatments I have had
a lot of reconstructive surgeries in the
accident my jaw was crushed and mangled
so my just stands today as a tribute to
an outstanding maxillofacial surgeon
I’ve had many reconstructions I was a
senior registrar in ophthalmology that
means the rank just below consultant but
when I was released from hospital if I
had to work to pay for my bill he would
have taken me 15 years of saving all my
income to pay for my hospital bill
because like 99.2% of the Nigerian
population who are not covered in the
National Health Insurance Scheme I had
no insurance I could not pay when I went
to the medical director of the hospital
to negotiate how I will work for him to
settle my bill he looked at me and said
dr. Khanna I’m talking about doctor this
Jochen quad of blessed memory he looked
at me
dr. Khanna we are happy you are life I
will settle the bill
a man’s kindness the kindness that we
have in our society wrote of my bill he
gave me back my life when I was released
from the hospital I determined that I
will make my life count we have human
compassion it is from this sea of human
compassion that I hope we can work
together to prevent and eliminate
avoidable blindness the World Health
Organization has a program drawn up
elimination of avoidable blindness based
on a strategic try part of human
resource development infrastructure and
technology and the development of
specific targeted disease action but
what is lacking is human passion and
compassion to drive this program that
was done by a committee of experts
Nigeria had signed on to this November
2007 but since then health sector
allocation has continued to dwindle
unless we rise together and shout from
the rooftop we will continue to have
these appalling blindness indices we
have what it takes but we need passion
dangerous a country does not have a
diabetic retinopathy screening and
treatment program but we have one in
Cross River State we have one in the
teaching hospital we screen people for
free we expect that with a prevalence of
6.5 percent of diabetes in a city in
Caliban we have 10,000 people living
with diabetes we have 2,500 people
registered in our registry last year
only 534 came out for free screening
if you here can join us tell a hundred
people in a month who have diabetes to
come and screen their eyes you will be
the real champion how many people what I
discovered after my accident which I
must mentioned before I sit down is that
a driver had visual impairment and was
not wearing his glasses a driver also
had diabetes it’s possible that a pair
of glasses would have saved his life how
many people when you enter a cup ask
your driver whether he does wear glasses
how many people remember how many
Nigerian drivers if you go to Madame
Park will wear their glasses we can make
a difference join me when you meet
people ask them have you had your annual
I check have you had your annual
diabetic screening everybody should do
it once in a year and everybody that has
diabetes you can help invite them
let us make our lives count
[Applause]
you
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