Reducing Diabetic Blindness in Far-Flung Sub-Saharan Rural Communities: Odot, Nsit-Atai as a Case Study

Background: Odot is the head-quarter of Nsit-Atai local government, 70 kilometers from Uyo, the Akwa-Ibom state capital. About 5000 population has a Comprehensive Health Center, a Primary Health Centre and 2 Health Posts to meet its enormous health needs. Additionally, the workers in these health facilities are neither trained nor equipped to render eye care services. Patients with systemic diseases with potentially debilitating effects on vision come to the urban tertiary referral health center at terminal blinding stages. This trend requires an urgent attention to curb diabetic blindness among often vibrant working population. Objective: To explore how scheduled vision screening exercises can help reduce blindness from diabetic mellitus in this rural community. Methodology: Major databases including National library of Medicine PubMed were searched for relevant data. Additional information was obtained by on-sight assessment of the index community. Conclusion: From community health standpoint, vision screening remains a cheap avenue to arrest diabetic blindness in Nsit-Atai and similar set-ups around the world.