CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)–The Department of Health (DOH)-10 in celebration of World Sight Day, reminded the public of the importance of taking care of their eyes as this is one of the most important organs in the body.
Karen Kaye Alcesto, senior health program officer of DOH-10, said, “We should love our eyes. Almost 80% of the information that comes from the environment comes from our eyes.”
There are ways on how to take care of our eyes.
Alcesto enumerated to avoid constant rubbing of eyes. Since the hands are prone to dirt, it may irritate the eye and may cause infection.
Next is to wash hands frequently; protect eyes from the sun and its UV rays by wearing sunglasses, staying hydrated, avoid smoking, eating a balanced diet, and maintaining proper monitor distance and room lighting.
World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness, held on October 13, focusing on global attention in vision impairment including blindness.
This is an opportunity to focus the world’s attention on eye health as a global issue, she said.
Meanwhile, Eyesight Day is a platform to influence lawmakers to prioritize eye health initiatives.
In the Philippines, a law was passed in 2019 Republic Act 11358, an act establishing a national vision screening program for kindergarten pupils.
“In that way, we can see as early as Kindergarten 2 if the pupil has an eye problem. Some pupils do not know how to read when they reach Grade 2 or 3 simply because they cannot see clearly,” she said.
This year, DOH-10 has started to implement the program by conducting training of trainers to Department of Education (DepEd) nurses to facilitate the eye screening of kindergarten pupils.
Alcesto also urged parents to monitor their kids and minimize their use of gadgets as this is one of the reasons young ones start having eye problems. As early as Grade 1, they have seen so many pupils have difficulty seeing. (JMOR/PIA-10)
