FG signs new partnership to accelerate efforts against preventable blindness

The Federal Government has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Peek Vision to strengthen Nigeria’s fight against preventable blindness and improve access to eye care, particularly for underserved populations. The agreement, signed on Tuesday in Abuja, comes amid reports that more than 23 million Nigerians are living with one form of vision impairment […]

The Federal Government has signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Peek Vision to strengthen Nigeria’s fight against preventable blindness and improve access to eye care, particularly for underserved populations.

The agreement, signed on Tuesday in Abuja, comes amid reports that more than 23 million Nigerians are living with one form of vision impairment or another. The partnership aims to modernize early detection, monitoring, and referral systems to ensure more people receive timely treatment.

Minister of State for Health and Social Welfare, Dr. Adekunle Salako, who signed on behalf of the government, said the initiative would significantly increase Nigeria’s capacity to identify individuals with vision challenges and connect them with appropriate care. He noted that the country has a track record of innovative eye-care interventions, referencing Lagos State’s jigibola programme of the early 1990s, which provided eyeglasses to thousands.

Salako explained that the collaboration aligns with the government’s Renewable Health Connect agenda, which prioritizes school-based vision screening, cataract services, and the provision of corrective lenses. He added that the Ministry is committed to ensuring the technology reaches rural and hard-to-reach communities where many people live with avoidable vision loss.

He also highlighted the role of misinformation and fear in discouraging early treatment, expressing optimism that improved digital tools, communication systems, and referral mechanisms will help address these barriers.

Founder and CEO of Peek Vision, Prof. Andrew Bastawrous, said the partnership is driven by the urgency to reach millions of Nigerians who live with treatable vision conditions but have limited access to care. Many people, especially in low-income and rural areas, he noted, either do not know their condition is treatable or cannot access health facilities.

Under the new arrangement, trained personnel will use smartphones and tablets to conduct accurate vision screening in homes, schools, and workplaces. Bastawrous said this approach removes the dependency on health facilities and ensures that individuals in need of care are followed through the system.

Peek Vision has developed a digital platform capable of tracking every person screened, monitoring referrals, and identifying barriers that prevent patients from attending appointments. Bastawrous cited similar success in Kenya, where data-driven insights helped address fears, myths, and cost-related obstacles that hindered uptake of eye-care services.

He said the Nigerian rollout has begun immediately and comes at no direct financial cost to the Federal Government. International partners, including Sightsavers, CBM, and HANDS, will support implementation, while the Ministry retains full ownership of all data generated.

According to him, a new Sightsavers-supported programme has already screened 5,000 Nigerians and aims to reach 1.2 million schoolchildren over the next two years.

Bastawrous emphasized the broader benefits of improved vision, noting that simple interventions such as magnifying glasses can significantly boost learning outcomes yet remain inaccessible for many. He added that cataracts—Nigeria’s leading cause of blindness—are entirely treatable, warning that many citizens may never receive surgery without expanded access.

To date, Peek Vision and its partners have screened 17 million people globally and linked more than 1.5 million to sight-restoring treatment.

“Today marks the beginning of that journey in Nigeria,” Bastawrous said.