As part of activities to mark the 2024 World Glaucoma Week, the Department of Ophthalmology, Benue State University Teaching Hospital, on the 14th of March, 2024, offered free eye care services to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the sate.

The free eye care services which ranged from screening for detection of glaucoma and treatment for minor and ocular diseases was provided to over one hundred persons at the Abagena and Agan IDP camps.

A Consultant of Ophthalmology, Dr. Peter Onoja Okwori, who was part of the team stated that the aim of the outreach was not just to commemorate the 2024 World Glaucoma Week which had the theme ‘unite for a glaucoma-free world’ but to spread awareness and understanding about the importance of early detection of glaucoma which is the world’s second leading cause of blindness.

He disclosed that the initiative was meant to help people understand glaucoma, its causes, symptoms, treatment and risk factors, to conform to the World Glaucoma Association standard.