Eye care in Ghana

Since Ghana's independence on March 6, 1957, there has been much work done to promote and improve the eye care needs of Ghanaians.

Their objectives include promoting good eye health in Ghana and maintaining professionalism in their profession as ophthalmologists.

In 2010 the Ghana Optometric Association along with the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology's Faculty of Distance Learning[3] rolled out a two-year program to offer all members of GOA who did not have the Doctor of Optometry degree to enroll for it.

The aim of the Ministry of Health is to ensure that there is at least one functioning eye unit in every district of the country.

Most of the facilities that CHAG runs have eye clinics and these aid in service delivery in those towns and villages that are situated in.

[4] Despite a population exceeding 2.1 million,[5] the eighteen districts in Ghana's Western Region are among the least resourced in terms of eyecare services.

In 2005 there were five eye care specialists in the region, comprising two ophthalmologists, two optometrists, one optician and an ophthalmic nurse.

[6] International assistance is offered through Operation Eyesight Universal, which funds three district hospital satellite eye clinics in the Western Region.

The first optometrist school in Ghana started at the department of Physics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology[8] in 1992.

Today, there are about two hundred Optometrists in Ghana working hand-in-hand with other eye care professionals to save sight.

The Oyoko town in the New Juaben district of the Ashanti Region hosts Ghana's only school for the training of opticians.

GHS has over the years initiated various programs aimed at improving the eye care system in the country.

In 2008, the day was celebrated under the theme “Eyes on the Future - Fight Vision Impairment in Later Life Now [12] In Ghana, it is only the Ophthalmologist and optometrist who are licensed to manage glaucoma.