Raising public awareness of glaucoma in Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, glaucoma is the fifth most common cause of blindness and the disease caused irreversible blindness in an estimated 62,000 people in 2006.1Due to the nature of the disease, an inadequate and inaccessible eye care service, and a very poor level of public awareness, glaucoma patients tend to come for help after they have become either unilaterally or bilaterally blind. Even among some health professionals in Ethiopia, awareness and understanding of glaucoma is low. There are many instances of parents being told that their child does not have an eye problem when in fact they are suffering from congenital glaucoma, and I have seen many people with acute angle-closure glaucoma who have been treated for conjunctivitis!