Causes and Prevalence of Ocular Morbidity Among Primary School Children in Ilorin, Nigeria
AUTHOR:
Ayanniyi, A.A., Mahmoud, A.O. and Olatunji, F.O.
SPONSOR/INSTITUTION:
YEAR PUBLISHED:
2010
PUBLICATION:
Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
The purpose of this study was to determine the causes and prevalence of ocular morbidity among primary school children in Ilorin, Nigeria.
This was a cross sectional survey of primary school children in 10 randomly selected primary schools within Ilorin.
Two hundred and seventy seven children had ocular pathology giving a prevalence of 19.9%.
The two most common ocular disorders found among the children were refractive errors and vernal conjunctivitis with prevalence of 6.9% and 6.7% respectively.
About 86.7% of the causes of visual impairment and blindness among children were avoidable.
There is need for effective school eye-health programs in developing countries in order to prevent avoidable blindness among children.