An eye care outreach programme to rural communities in Edo and Delta State of Nigeria was carried out in September 2001. The programme was aimed at taking eye care to the doorsteps of the less privileged rural dwellers as part of the preparatory activities for an annual congress. A total of 944 patients were screened and treated.

An eye care outreach programme to rural communities in Edo and Delta States of Nigeria was carried out in September 2001. The programme was aimed at taking eye care to the doorsteps of the less privileged rural dwellers as part of the preparatory activities for an annual congress. A total of 944 patients were screened and treated.

An initial experience with extracapsular cataract extraction with intraocular lens implant in a series of 29 eyes of 25 patients, in Benin City, Nigeria, is presented. Twenty-two eyes had posterior chamber implants while seven eyes had anterior chamber implants. Post operatively, uncorrected visual acuity was between 6/9 and 6/36 in 21 out of 29 eyes. Best corrected post operative visual acuity was 6/6 in 4 eyes, 6/9 in 6 eyes, 6/12 in 4 eyes, 6/18 in 2 eyes, 6/24 in 5 eyes, and 6/36 in one eye. One eye had only light perception due to severe post- operative uveitis.

Nigeria has little resources to combat preventable and treatable vision loss and blindness within its own population. Thus, the need to address eye conditions that have very high incidence/ prevalence. The suggested order are namely cataract, glaucoma, uncorrected / under corrected refractive error / low vision and Diabetes.