School eye health screening in Kaduna-Northern Nigeria

Abstract

Background: Five public primary schools referred to as Local Education Authority (L.E.A.) primary schools, were identified for this study. The aim was to find out the pattern of eye disorders affecting primary school children in Kaduna North metropolis and to offer treatment to those with treatable disorders. Method: A total of 2,397 pupils whose classes ranged from primary one to six and aged between five to eighteen years were examined. Results: Of this number, 1,232 (51.57%) were males and 1,161 (48.43%). The commonest causes of eye disorders were allergic conjunctivitis (14.5%), refractive error (1.7%), and infective conjunctivitis (1.4%). Conclusion: School eye screening visits should be at least once a year and should involve screening of all nursery one and primary one pupils. School teachers can be trained to measure visual acuity. Primary eye care workers may be trained and utilised to carrying out school screening in schools, while basic eye health classes can be taught in ante-natal classes to enlighten mothers who are the primary care givers. Early detection of eye conditions in children is an advantage for management.

Socio-Demographic Correlates of Ocular Morbidity in School Children of Rural Haryana

“…In this study, the prevalence of corneal opacity was found to be 0.15%. This finding is quite similar to 0.18% recorded by Khurana et al 12 Kehinde et al 21 recorded 0.08% and Singh Harpal 22 observed much higher prevalence 5.86% in school children.…”

“…In the present study, the prevalence of vernal conjunctivitis was found to be 5.1%. This is higher than that found in other studies like Kehinde AV et al 21 (4.55%), Shaffi et al 20 (0.7%) and Kuruvilla et al 9 (0.66%). The higher prevalence may be because the spring season was also included in this study.…”

Ocular disorders in children in Zaria children′s school

“…This was much higher than the 8.4% reported six years ago in this part of the country by Kehinde. [9] However, Ajaiyeoba [10] in a study amongst students of south western Nigeria reported a prevalence of 15.5%. The high prevalence of eye disorder can be attributed to a relative increase and the prevalence due to the higher sample size in the previous study or a true rise in prevalence of eye disorders.…”

“…There is a significant rise as compared to 1.7% earlier documented by Kehinde. [9] This is attributable to the fact that Zaria is an urban setting where prevalence of uncorrected refractive error is likely to increase. In South East Asia, the prevalence of myopia has increased dramatically among children particularly in urban areas.…”

Ocular manifestations of childhood malnutrition- an overview

“…Young children are at higher risk for vitamin deficiency than adults because vitamin A requirements per unit of body weight {65 μg (125 I.U)} is much greater than adults {12 μg (36 I.U)}. Moreover children cannot store vitamin A in the liver [6]. According to WHO, children over one year old diagnosed to have xerophthalmia are given 200,000 IU vitamin A orally for 2 consecutive days and later once after 4 weeks.…”