Tamale, Nov.13, GNA - There is a backlog of over 100,000 cataract cases in Ghana and the number increases by 18,000 a year. The Northern Region alone has a minimum of 10,000 cases and this increases by 1,800 every year.

Currently, the Northern Region is performing a little over 340 cataract surgeries a year, representing 17 per cent of emerging cases. Mr. Seth Addae Kyereme, Country Representative of the Swiss Red Cross, said this at the regional launch of the "Action Against Childhood Blindness" in Tamale on Monday.

The Kiwanis of Switzerland, a non-governmental organisation, sponsored the launch that was undertaken jointly by the Swiss Red Cross, the Ghana National Red Cross (GNRC) and the Ghana Health Service (GHS). Mr Kyereme said the programme was being used as a strategic activity to reduce future blindness prevalence by ensuring healthy eyes at early stages of childhood.

He said it had been identified that blindness prevalence rate in Northern Ghana was over 1.7 per cent, exceeding the national estimate of about one per cent.

Over 5,000 pupils from some schools in the Tamale Metropolis were screened and treated free-of-charge for poor vision or eye diseases. Mr. Kyereme said the Swiss Red Cross had subsidised its surgical services across board and had provided free transport, meals and counseling services.

Mrs. Benita Bismark, Head of Operations of the Northern Regional branch of the GNRC, said the organisation had over 500 volunteers in the region providing services such as health promotion and disease prevention.

She said GNRC's activities had led to the treatment of about 20,000 people in the Out Patients Department and the performance of 250 eye surgeries annually.

Mr. John Hobenu, the Director of Education, said the eye screening exercise was very important because it would help identify children with eye problems so that they could get early treatment. He commended the Swiss Red Cross and the GNRC for undertaking the exercise and expressed the hope that the programme would be extended to the rural areas where most of the children ere afflicted with various eye diseases.